


The Experiments

by PsychoGenius



Series: The Experiments [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Dystopian, Mutants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 12:26:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 41,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19946146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoGenius/pseuds/PsychoGenius
Summary: The planet is dying.Over-population has triggered a new disease simply known as The Plague. Millions have perished, and once a human is infected there is no return.However a new generation has risen. They possess extraordinary powers and are immune to the Plague. They are called Y-Mutants, and in their genes is the secret to a cure.A cure that some could kill for.





	1. -Before-

It was no secret that the Earth was dying.

The population had grown exponentially, to the point where the planet was over-flowing. The mass amounts of people triggered economic depressions world-wide, leaving billions homeless. The larger poverty group was unable to obtain medicines, thereby causing new diseases to spread faster. The most threatening of them being the Plague; a nonrefundable, one-way ticket to your grave.

Surprisingly the Nations were actually working together. All remnants of their rivalries and past wars were shoved away as a more serious issue, one that concerned the survival of the entire human race, was made priority. They held a meeting in the U.K. to discuss emergency solutions. It was led by the Prime Minister of the U.K. and was attended by ambassadors from nearly every country.

When a possible solution was brought up, most leaders provided the same generic answers that had made little to no progress over the past decade.

Then, the Prime Minister stood.

“You are all going about this incorrectly. Old ideas would've worked in the past, but this is today. We've waited far too long to go the traditional route, so I ask of you to instead consider a bit of a more modern approach.” He then walked away from the table to a large board that took up nearly an entire wall. After tapping some buttons on a keypad, the board was illuminated navy blue with two large, glowing white words in the center.

“Project Y.”

The board was then filled with a picture of a string of DNA. “This,” said the Prime Minister, “is a photograph of a Y-Mutant’s DNA. It is fairly well-known that mutations have been taking place all over the world. It seems to have become prominent in children born within the last fifteen years. These mutants all possess strange and absurd skills unique to their person. These abilities can range from reading minds to changing their physical form. Amazing, but that's not why I brought them up.

Around two years ago one of my country's finest scientists presented me with a startling discovery. Census data showed that every single person who died from the Plague was a regular, as in no Y-Mutants in my country were reported dying of it.” There were quiet murmurs between the representers of each country.

“That of course caught my attention. Unfortunately we had no other proof that Y-Mutants possessed immunity and therefore dropped the subject. We would not speak of it again until a year later.” Another picture came up, this of a man with sunken eyes, blue lips, and pale skin. An obvious victim of the Plague.

“This is a man who was visiting Brighton, England from Athlone, Ireland one year ago. He was in the second stage of the Plague, and was certainly going to die within the next six months. A month ago he returned.” Another slide revealed a photo of the same man, but instead completely healthy.

Attendants in the room gasped, others whispered to colleagues in confusion. The Prime Minister nodded in understanding. “Extremely shocking. It is known that no one survives the Plague. This man is an author and is fairly well known, so word spread around quickly of his miraculous recovery. I hired an investigator, thinking this man was keeping a cure for himself. In a way, I wasn't wrong.”

Another slide pictured a young boy sitting besides whom appeared to be an older sister. His bright blue eyes and soft features made it clear he couldn't be older than seven.

“This, is Seán William McLoughlin. He is a Y-Mutant. His ability is to heal all wounds and sickness. That man is his father, whom he cured.”

The entire room was in an uproar. People were shouting at him to stop his lies about this ridiculous discovery. A small percentage of the room sat up straight, stiff and tight lipped. The Prime Minister held up his hands. “This is all truth I assure you! In fact, I brought him here today to prove it to you.” On cue, two men in dark suits ushered the same small boy from the picture into the room.

There were disapproving looks and statements about how a child shouldn't be allowed in the conference room. Once the boy was standing right next to him, the Prime Minister raised a hand to his mouth and bit. Hard. Blood started to drip from his wound. People started to shout and call him crazy. The Prime Minister then gave his hand to the boy, who held it.

The blood stopped dripping. The leaders watched in awe as the boy healed the bite. After a few seconds he removed his hand, revealing that the wound was completely healed. No scars, no anything.

For once the conference room was completely silent.

The Prime Minister waved him off and the same two men from before escorted the boy out. “Seán has never once gotten sick, and I assume any injury he's obtained was healed within seconds. The Y-Mutants hold the cure to stopping this Plague. I want to conduct research on them so that we can develop a cure before the Plague takes us all. In order to do this, I may need to extract mutants from your countries.”

The French ambassador stood. “Child experimentation? That's inhumane !” The Prime Minister smiled. “It’s no surprise someone would bring morals up. Here’s a man I believe most of you will remember.” A picture on the screen showed a man holding an AK-47, eyes glinting with something sinister.

“We all remember this man, an American by the name of Terence Reiden, known by most as Terence the Terrible, a super terrorist who was executed around three years ago. He destroyed monuments and killed millions using a weapon that destroyed and manipulated technology, using it against us. It was revealed that this weapon was none other than his own son, Ryan Reiden.” Another picture showed a boy around ten years old. His colorless eyes were unnerving.

“Instead of killing Ryan we locked him in a facility along with other mutant children who were deemed too dangerous for the world. This facility used to be private until I ordered the government to take control of it about a year and a half ago. A few months after we took over the mutants rebelled and broke out under the lead of Ryan. We were able to catch three just before they could leave, but Ryan stayed to try and get them back. We had no choice but to shoot and kill him.

I am asking to rebuild that facility and take in more mutants so that this cure can be made a reality. Although you say it is inhumane to take them, Ryan is a perfect example of what the Y-Mutants are capable of. We would be doing the public a favor.”

All of the ambassadors were silent. After a few moments the American ambassador spoke.

“Say we were to agree with you, what makes you think the public would be willing to just give their children and family members up?” The Prime Minister smiled.

“It's simple, we ask the mutants to come with us, and in return we promise their families financial help. They would be insane not to cooperate.” The representatives spoke to neighbors in agreement. The American ambassador then voiced the only question that the nations thought was necessary.

“Where do we start?”


	2. -One-

He's always been fascinated by space.

A young man, no older than seventeen, laid against the concrete floor, brown eyes sparkling just as much as the starry sky above. He lay there shirtless, hard concrete cold against his bare back. He ran a hand through his raven locks as he focused on one random star. Funny, there could be someone on that same star looking at his planet and wondering the same things he was.

He hoped that whoever that was wasn't stuck on a dying planet like him.

A horrible Plague was taking the lives of millions, leaving only heartache for those who remained. The young man had lost his father to it, leaving him, his mother, and his elder brother. The brother was the one who managed to save them all by alerting the authorities of their dying father. They managed to get the three away so that the Plague wouldn't claim them as well.

They were never able to have a proper funeral, what with the government order to burn all diseased corpses.

Unfortunately being spared from the Plague didn't spare them from poverty. With the father now gone, all three had to find jobs, which wasn't easy considering the only one with experience was the mother. The two sons had to give up all dreams of college and instead focus on feeding their family. It was the hardest on the younger of the two, who dreamed of becoming an engineer and fixing this broken world.

The young man felt a vibration in his pocket and reached into it, pulling out a phone. It was a flip phone, the cheapest they could find. There were two between the three of them, one for home and one for whoever was going out. He opened it, answering the call.

"Hello?" The young man possessed a deep, yet beautiful voice. "Mark? Dude where the heck are you? Mom's freaking out."

"Jeez Thomas I was just out, I'll be back in a little bit."

"Alright, just get here soon. Bye."

"Bye." Thomas hung up. Mark sat up and stretched his arms, staring once more at the swirls of glowing lights.

If only.

He then stood up, wings fully expanded. They were a light pink, a little strange but Mark didn't mind. He actually enjoyed the color. It did make the wings easier to spot though, and if you're a mutant you don't want to be easy to spot.

Because in Mark's world, nothing good came out of being a mutant.

Mark checked to make sure he had his black leather jacket to hide the feathery limbs. He made sure it was tied securely around his waist. He then walked up to the edge of the roof and peered down at the ground below. Nobody in the alleyway, he could glide down and then slip his jacket on before anyone saw him. Mark nodded at his own plan and stepped off the side of the building, wings fluffing up at the wind. He glided down, air whipping through his hair. Once his feet touched the pavement he undid the jacket and slipped it on, tucking his wings in underneath. The zipper was broken, but he could manage.

Mark walked out of the alleyway and into the street lights. Various slum kids ran past him, playing games, ignoring the hacking and coughing of the homeless. It hurt Mark's heart to see people suffering so much, but he couldn't help them. Not without risking his life too. That left Mark with only one option. He stared straight ahead, tugging the jacket tightly around himself, and walked.

A man with blue-tinged lips and glossy eyes looked up at Mark from his spot alongside a building. "Money? Do you have money?" Mark shook his head and continued.

"Hey!" The man latched onto Mark's jacket. "I asked you if you had money, and you lied to me! Greedy pig!" Mark felt panic rise in his chest. "I-I didn't lie! I have nothing on me-"

"Bullshit. You have that jacket. It's probably worth something. Give it to me."

Mark shook his head frantically. They were out in front of dozens of people. If they saw his wings, there was no telling what would happen. "I can't give it to you, please, let me go."

The man snarled, digging his overgrown fingernails into the black leather. "I said give it to me!!" The man yanked on it, unknowingly hurting Mark's wings. He whimpered a little, earning a chuckle from the man.

"What's wrong with you?" One of Mark's feathers peeked out from under the jacket, causing both men to stop in shock.

The man's shocked face slowly twisted into a grimace. "You're a mutie." He whispered.

Mark felt his heart thunder as a million different scenarios raced through his head. As the man reached out to touch the lone feather, Mark swung his fist into his cheek. The man went flying back, losing his grip on the jacket. He hit his head against the concrete. Out cold.

"Fucking creep." Mark continued down the path to home, silently thanking whatever-God that no one else saw his feathers.

As Mark continued the number of homeless lining the streets stayed constant. So many people unable to find jobs or homes. There used to be shelters, but some government officials went and shut them down, claiming that it increased the spread of the Plague. Mark didn't really understand that, since the Plague could just as easily spread throughout the streets, maybe even faster.

Finally he was at his apartment building. Mark quickly ran up the steps, taking out his card and scanning it. A beep sounded, and the door unlocked. Mark clambered inside before anyone could try and follow him in. Once he shut the door it beeped again, signaling it was now locked. Mark exhaled in relief and walked up the staircase.

Sometimes he regretted living on the top floor, but then he remembered that it had the best view. Not only that, but he could go up on the roof anytime he wanted and look at the stars. It was one of his favorite pastimes.

As Mark ascended the staircase he heard shouts. His body tensed. He recognized that voice all too well. Mark ran up the rest of the staircase, stopping a floor below his apartment.

"-and the medicine is taking up a lot of our cash. I'm not holding out on you I swear." Thomas, Mark's older brother.

"I don't care that she's sick, so is everyone else around here. I should evict you now, she's probably got the Plague." The landlord. Mark never liked the guy. He's always talking down to everyone.

"No! She doesn't! It's just a really bad flu!" Thomas's voice was pleading.

"I've heard it all before, next thing you know I have to evacuate the building! You know how much money I would lose?"

"Listen, we're just a little behind-"

"No, you listen. If I don't have this week's rent then I'm kicking you out. Goodbye." The landlord descended the staircase, face red hot with fury. He was a short, uptight-looking man, scowl lines defining his face. He stormed right by Mark, not even sparing him a glance. Mark bit his cheek and walked up the rest of the stairs, finding his brother leaning against the door, his head in his hands.

"...Thomas?" Thomas jerked himself upright, straining to smile at his little brother. "Hey Mark, sorry, just had a little talk with the landlord."

"I heard everything." Thomas's smile faded. "Oh, well it's nothing to worry about! I'll just take some more shifts."

Mark frowned. "You've been taking a lot of shifts lately, are you sure you don't want me to get my old job back?" Thomas shook his head. "Someone's probably already filled your spot by now, besides, we need someone to take care of Mom." He opened the door to their apartment, letting Mark walk in first.

It was small, and not in the cozy way. The entire apartment was ten by fifteen feet, and the ceiling was barely an inch above Thomas's head. Clothes and empty cans littered the floor. Everything was open excluding one room, the bathroom. It was the only separate part of the apartment, having it's own door. The kitchen consisted of a mini-fridge, a rusted sink, and an old stove/oven. There were a few cupboards, but the trio didn't have that many dishes to store away. The bathroom and the kitchen took up half of the room, leaving the remaining half for a busted mattress, upon which lay Mark and Thomas's mother, hacking underneath a mound of blankets and pillows.

"I would've let you stay out a bit longer, but I need to get to my next shift." Mark nodded, crouching next to his mother. "I understand." Thomas smiled, grabbing a coat from the floor. "Awesome, I'll bring back some more soup, just give Mom her medicine." He opened the door. "Bye Markimoo!" Mark rolled his eyes. "Bye Thomas."

Thomas closed the door behind him, leaving Mark and his mother in silence, her coughs the only sound filling the room. Mark walked into the kitchen and grabbed a spoon and a bottle of blue liquid. He poured some into the spoon, carefully bringing it back to his mother. "Mom, it's time for your medicine." She coughed, turning to look at Mark, her eyes glossy.

Mark tried not to think about how dull her eyes were, instead bringing the spoon to her lips. She parted them, allowing the bright blue substance to enter her mouth. Once Mark pulled the spoon away she closed her mouth, focusing all her energy on swallowing the liquid.

After she was done she started to hack again, each cough sounding more painful than the last. Mark held her hand in his, noticing how bony it was. He fought the tears threatening to fall from his face. She didn't deserve this, she of all people didn't deserve this.

Mark felt a squeeze on his hand, snapping him back to focus. His mother was smiling at him.

"Mark.. Why don't you show your mother your wings?" Mark shook his head. "I can't-"

"Oh hush, even if your wings are pink they're beautiful." Mark blushed at her words. "What if someone sees? You know how the public feels about mutants." His mother shook her head, running a frail hand through his hair.

"Please."

Mark sighed, letting go of his mother's hand. She smiled, taking her other hand out of his hair. Mark pulled off the jacket, and slowly, let his wings expand. With every inch he felt himself relax, his wings no longer cramped. Once they were his full wingspan he flexed them, allowing the feathers to touch the ceiling.

Mark moved his wings up and down, beginning to make a small breeze in the little apartment. Random papers began swirling in the air, moved by the force. He smiled, feeling himself rise.

He felt, amazing. Happy.

Free.

His mother started coughing. Mark's smile dropped, and his wings went stiff. He got on his knees, tucking his wings in so he could see his mother through the light of the window. "I'm sorry Mom! I forgot how cold you get!" A frail hand cupped his cheek. "I'm fine sweetie." Her voice sounded even more hoarse now.

Mark clenched his fists. "No, I should've remembered." He sighed, and glanced at the floor. "These wings are more trouble than they're worth." He winced as he felt a sharp pain on his cheek. His mother had a death grip on his face, no pun intended.

"Don't you ever say that. Do you hear me? Your wings are beautiful, and you are beautiful." Mark felt tears dribble down his chin. "But if it weren't for these you'd still be healthy-"

"Mark, not another word. It was not your fault." She loosened her grip on him, tracing his jawline with her thumb. "I love you, wings and all." Mark felt more tears prick his eyes. "I love you too Mom."

She smiled, letting her eyelids droop. Time for bed. Mark placed her hands back on the mattress, fluffing up her pillows and adding another blanket. Not even a second later was she asleep. Mark placed her medicine back into the kitchen, tidying up a little.

After picking up scattered items in the apartment he yawned. He wanted to stay awake and see Thomas, but his body wasn't exactly cooperating. Mark grabbed a pillow off of the floor and scanned the room for any leftover blankets. No luck. He shivered. It's too cold to not cover himself, yet he wasn't going to take any covers from his Mom. She needed them more.

Mark had an idea. He slipped off his jacket, letting his wings out again. He laid on the floor, surrounding his torso in the warmth of his feathers.

They may not be so bad after all. He closed his eyes, letting sleep take him.


	3. -Two-

Brown eyes snapped open at the sound of splintering wood. Mark jerked up, drowsiness dissipating as soon as he saw the flames.

The room was on _fire_.

He had no idea how it happened, but he had to act quick. Mark rushed to his feet, using his wings to shield his face from the smoke. His eyes scanned the room and landed on his mother, who was still on the mattress. Mark wasted no time as he started to bolt.

He realized it probably wasn't the best idea to do so as he heard a loud crack.

As soon as Mark's left foot hit the wood it broke through. Within seconds everything below his waist was under the floorboards. Panic flooded his brain as he tried to pull himself out. No luck. Mark cursed under his breath.

Flames licked at his wings, which he lifted higher. As he did so he felt his upper body pull upwards.

_Oh. Wait._

Mark flapped his wings again, moving up about an inch. He did it again, earning a few more inches. He kept at it until suddenly he felt a tug on his ankle. _Damn_. The wood was catching on his foot. Mark flapped his wings faster, wincing at the splinters digging into his ankle, drawing blood.

 _C'mon!_ Mark flapped even faster. The wood finally gave way around his foot, sending him spiralling up. He hit the ceiling and cursed again.

Then he heard another crack.

 _From_ _behind him._

Mark turned around just in time to see the ceiling collapse on the mattress _and his mother_.

“MOM!!!” Mark flew to the debris and frantically started ripping them off.

 _Mark_.

No matter how many he took off there seemed to be more.

 _Mark_.

She was going to die because he wasn’t fast enough.

 _Mark_.

Tears streamed down his face. This was all his fault-

“MARK!” Two hands gripped each of Mark's shoulders, shaking him. His eyes snapped open, meeting the gaze of his concerned brother.

“Thomas? Where's Mo-”

“She's sleeping.” Thomas pointed to the bed only a yard away from them. Sure enough, their mother was sleeping peacefully, despite the coughing here and there. Mark furrowed his brows in confusion. “I saw it, the ceiling collapsed on her!” Thomas smiled softly. “So it's the same nightmare, huh?”

Mark bit his lip and looked down. Thomas took it as a yes and gestured for Mark to sit next to him. He did so, letting his head rest on his older brother's shoulder. Thomas placed one arm around him, running his hand through Mark’s hair. As he did that Mark glanced at the old clock on the far wall, noticing it was 3:15 AM.

Mark furrowed his brow. “What are you doing here?” Thomas scratched the back of his neck. “Well I managed to get an extra shift. One of the other employees got fired and they needed a replacement for the morning. My next shift starts in a half-hour. I took an early break so I could tell you.”

Mark narrowed his eyes. “Why didn't you call?” Thomas blushed. “I forgot to grab the away-phone from you before I left.” Mark patted the front pocket of his jeans. Yep, there it was.

Thomas smiled. “It's a good thing I came back when I did, this one looked pretty bad.” Mark said nothing, looking at a random pair of pants by the wall. Thomas frowned, his eyes still on his little brother.

“So, did the ceiling collapse because of..” Thomas pointed at the wings. Mark tucked them further behind himself, nodding sheepishly. Thomas smiled. “Remember when we used to walk along that river back at the old house? I think I was like ten and you were eight.” Mark nodded, allowing Thomas to continue.

“Anyway, do you remember that waterfall we found one day? It was really steep and at the end of the river.” Mark nodded again. Thomas chuckled as he reminisced. “Me being my stupid ten-year-old self, I walked right up to the edge to look over, and fell.” Mark tensed up, remembering how terrified he was to see his brother disappear over the edge.

“That must've been a thirty-foot drop. Not only that, but the lake the waterfall ran into was _shallow_ and full of _rocks_. I could've died. But I didn't. You know why?” Mark nodded, smirking a little. “Because I flew down and grabbed you by your ankles before you could hit the ground.”

Thomas chuckled. “My little bro, who I should be protecting, saved me. Your wings do more good than bad Markimoo.” He ruffled Mark's hair. “Ugh, only Mom can call me that.”

“Whatever you say _Markimoo_!” Thomas chirped. Mark rolled his eyes and socked his brother in the arm. “Ow!” The two engaged in a brotherly game of punchies, laughing the whole time. Mid-laugh Thomas started to cough, which worried Mark to the point of ceasing to fight. “Dude you okay?” Thomas nodded, plastering on a smile. “Y-yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it.”

Thomas was a terrible liar. Mark frowned. He couldn't get sick. If both Thomas and his mother became ill then they would be evicted. If they got evicted, they would be put at higher risk for the Plague. If they got the Plague, Mark would lose the only family he has left. Mark shook those thoughts out of his head. No, he wasn't going to let that happen.

He couldn't let that happen.

Mark looked back at the medicine on the table. They were running low. He would have to go to the store and get some. He turned back to Thomas. “I'm going to buy some more medicine, could you stay with Mom for a bit?” Thomas nodded. “Make it quick, I have my next shift in twenty minutes.” Mark nodded and grabbed his leather jacket on the way out the door.

The outside was cold, common for an early morning. Mark's feathers kept his back warm against the wind, he just had to make sure that they didn't accidentally show above his collar or below his waist. He looked at the people around him. Most lined the streets, others, like him, were just trying to get through.

A body bumped into Mark’s. “Sorry.” Mark mumbled. He heard a sharp intake of breath and felt a hand on his jacket. Mark turned to question the person, only to freeze.

It was the same homeless man from yesterday, a large, purplish blemish on his forehead. The man scowled. “It is you!” Before Mark could even try to push away the man yanked the zipperless jacket off in one swift motion.

Everyone around gawked at the sight of two large pink wings.

There was no hiding it. They could all see, they knew what he was. Mark tried to continue walking in the direction of the store, only to be blocked off by a cluster of people. He turned back towards home, finding the same result.

They were surrounding him.

Mark tried to look for a friendly face amongst the crowd, but it was pointless. Everyone had their eyes fixated on his wings, expressions a mixture of awe and horror. He heard of what people did to Mutants, he had just never seen it up close. Lucky him, now he got to experience it first-hand.

Mark paled at the sight of a switchblade in someone's hand.

“Mutie!” A woman shouted, throwing an empty can at him. Mark dodged it. “Freak of nature!” A man threw a small rock at the back of his head. He wasn't able to dodge that one. More people started throwing objects at him shouting more slurs.

“Abomination!”

“Monster!”

“Freak!”

Mark felt his breathing pick up as he shielded himself with his wings. His lungs felt like they were collapsing. Tears pricked his eyes. His insides were on fire. He needed help. He had to get back to Thomas. Mark spread his wings and took off into the sky, flying back home. The crowd below continued to follow him, some throwing items at him still.

Mark weaved around buildings as fast as he could, trying to lose the crowd. It only seemed to attract more attention as more people joined. Mark craned his neck behind him, feeling his heart beat even faster. Didn't these people have somewhere to be?!

Mark felt something hit his wing and shatter. He almost fell out of the sky in shock, but managed to keep going. More objects were thrown at him from the streets below. He would fly higher to avoid them, but flying as high as he was already was exhausting.

Someone whistled from above, causing Mark to look up. A man was standing on top of a building holding a box. He tipped it over the side of the building, allowing its contents to fall onto Mark.

It wasn't until he felt sharp pain all along his face and back that Mark realized it was broken glass.

Mark cried out and shielded his face, even though the damage was already done. He slowly uncovered his face as his apartment building came into view. If he tried to go in the front door he'd be caught instantly. That only left him one option.

Mark flew to his apartment’s window and knocked on the glass. Thomas yanked the window up and grabbed Mark's arm, yanking him in. He slammed the window shut and turned to his little brother, who was curled into a ball on the floor.

“Mark!” Thomas ran over and placed a hand on his back. Mark whimpered, causing Thomas to pull back. It was then that he noticed the various cuts and bruises lining Mark's exposed skin. “Mark? What happened? Who did this?!”

“T-Thomas-” Mark was breathing too fast. “I-I-” The air wasn't getting to his lungs. He felt like he was choking.

Thomas placed one hand on Mark's shoulder, the other on his back. “Breathe, slowly. In through the nose, out through the mouth.” Mark shook his head, tears pricking his eyes.

Thomas glared hard at Mark. “Don't. In through the nose, out through the mouth.” Mark did as he was told, feeling his breathing slow as more oxygen made it to his brain. After a few moments he was back to breathing normal.

Mark looked at Thomas with watery eyes. “Thomas, w-why-” He started trembling. His brother wrapped his arms around him. “I don't know Mark, there's just crazy people that want to blame something else for what's happening.” He tightened his hold on Mark. “I won't let them hurt you anymore.” Mark shook and buried his face in Thomas's shoulder, muffling his cries.

Both of the boys tensed at the loud sound of knocking on the door.

Thomas pulled away from Mark and stood up. Mark shook his head frantically, mouthing the word “No” over and over. Thomas put a finger to his lips and slowly made his way to the door.

Once he was there, Thomas opened it a crack. He talked with someone in a quiet voice. Mark couldn't hear what they were saying. After a few seconds Thomas raised his voice. “Stay away from us!” He moved to slam the door in the stranger's face, only for them to stick their foot in the doorway.

The stranger shoved the door hard, pushing Thomas onto his back. Mark saw the man step through the doorway, four masked individuals behind him. Thomas tried to get up only for another man to kick him in the head.

“THOMAS!” Mark shrieked as he jumped to his feet. He bolted towards his brother, shoving the man off him. Thomas was unconscious, blood dripping from his nose. Mark felt his breathing start to become uneven, but he forced himself to focus. Mark saw two other men try to grab him, so he used his wings to smack them away.

“Hey!” Mark spun around to glare at whoever just spoke, and froze.

A man was holding Mark’s mother in his arms. She was half-aware of what was going on around her, but too weak to react. Mark was unable to see the man's face, but he was able to feel his cold glare.

“Come with us outside quietly. If you do as we ask then no harm will come to your family” Mark bit his cheek and nodded. Another one of the strangers grabbed him by his wrists and yanked him to the side. Mark watched as someone grabbed Thomas and carried him out the door. The man holding Mark's mother went through after, and then the one holding Mark's wrists yanked him through.

They descended the staircase, Mark's heart thumping faster with each step. Who were these people? What were they going to do with his family?

After they made it to the lobby floor they stopped. Mark watched as his family was escorted out first. They waited a few moments before the man yanked Mark forward. They walked out the door and into the street.

Dozens of people were shouting at Mark, spewing words like mutie and freak. Fortunately some more masked men had blocked off the crowd making a clear path into a black van. There was no point in struggling. At least he would be with his family. The man holding his wrists opened the car door and shoved Mark inside, slamming the door behind him.

There was a thick sheet of one-way glass that separated Mark from the driver, Mark being the one who couldn't see through. _It's roomy in here..._

Mark felt his panic rise again as he realized both his brother and mother were nowhere inside the van.

“Hey!” Mark banged his fist against the roof of the van. He received no answer as the van started to move.

“Hey! Where the hell is my family?!” No answer. _What happened to them?_ Mark slumped in his seat as dozens of scenarios raced through his head.

Looks like he wasn't going to find out until the van arrived wherever it was supposed to. Mark sighed and looked out the window.

This was going to be a long drive.


	4. -Three-

_Smoke clouded both his vision and his lungs._

_Everything hurt._

_Mark tried to push himself up, but failed._

_He failed to do anything_....  
  


The van door swung open, startling Mark from his dream. A pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him out of the car. Mark looked around frantically, seeing a large, industrial-looking building in front of them. There were armed men all around them, each one wearing a white, poker-faced mask. It was strange, but Mark wasn't really in a position to question.

The man holding him shoved him through the barrage of men, who all parted for their entrance. Despite the masks, Mark could feel eyes gawking at his wings, causing him to shrink in on himself.

Once they were inside the building Mark felt the hands leave his shoulders. He sighed in relief, only to tense at the feeling of a gun prodding his back.

Slowly, Mark continued in the direction the man told him. Straight. Left. Another left. Right. Stop. Mark gulped at the sight of a large door. "We're here." The man had a gruff voice. The door in front of them opened, sliding to the left. _High-tech. At least, compared to the apartment._ Mark stepped in, taking a moment to look around.

It was stark white, hospital like. The room was around the same size as Mark's apartment, if not bigger. A small table sat in the middle of the room, a chair on either side, facing each other. The man from before shoved Mark into a chair. "Stay put, or we have no choice but to shoot." Mark nodded, nervousness building in his stomach. The man left the room, door sliding shut behind him.

Mark was alone for a few moments before the door opened again. Mark craned his neck behind, seeing two armed men enter, blocking his view of someone behind them. "Eyes front." Mark snapped his head forward. The two men walked to each side of the opposite chair, standing guard. A man walked after them, taking his spot in the chair.

The man had a navy blue suit and was Caucasian. He seemed to be in his early forties with short white hair. The man smiled, grayish-blue eyes crinkling at the corners. It seemed, genuine. Almost like he was unphased by the sight of a mutant.

The man cleared his throat. "So, I take it you are Mark Fischbach, correct?" Mark nodded, opting not to speak unless spoken too, afraid of the masked bodyguards. The man seemed to sense this and waved his hand at the two men. "Put your weapons away, he's not going to try anything. He's far too smart for that, don't you know he was going to become an engineer?"

Mark gawked at the man. "H-How did you know that? Or my name?" The man smiled. "Because I like to learn anything and everything about people I want to work with." Mark furrowed his brow. "I don't follow."

"I wouldn't expect you to, what with this being a government project and all." Mark's eyes widened. "You're with the U.S. government?" 

"Well, not the _U.S_. government. I am with the U.K., Prime Minister in fact." Mark narrowed his eyes. "Really? What are you doing here?" The Prime Minister pulled out a tablet, swiping his finger across the screen to unlock it.

"I assume you are aware of the Plague epidemic, your files reported your father dying of it years ago." Mark looked down at the table, wings curling in a bit. "Yeah, I'm aware."

"What would you think if I told you that I found a cure?"

Mark's eyes snapped up from the table. The Prime Minister had turned the tablet to face Mark, a blue screen with white letters filling it.

"I'm calling it Project Y. A group of my scientists made a startling discovery many years ago that mutants are immune to the Plague. Amazing, isn't it? Amazing, if you're a mutant. However the remaining 93% of the human population is just as vulnerable to the horrid virus as ever." The blue screen faded to another one, which showed a line graph. There was a large decrease in it, and when Mark looked at the title, he paled.

Expected Population Decrease.

"With the rate the Plague is spreading, the entire human population should be dead within the next twenty years, leaving behind only 7% of the world's original population. Friends, family, politicians, leaders, so many lives." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that."

Mark curled his wings around his body, worry pooling in his stomach. He knew for a fact that Thomas and his mother weren't mutants. Would they really be gone so soon? The only family he has?

The Prime Minister sighed. "I know, it's a lot to take in. We made it a point to not tell the public about this so as to not cause a panic." His face brightened. "But there won't have to be a panic after we save everyone."

Mark shook his head. "I don't know what you want me to do? I'm not some genius, I can't develop a cure!" The Prime Minister chuckled. Mark glared at him. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, but I didn't ask for you to be brought so you could _make_ the cure, I have my scientists for that." Mark narrowed his eyes. "Then why did you want me?"

"Mark, you _are_ the cure."

Mark gaped at him. "What?" The Prime Minister smiled. "The key to immunity is in the blood of Mutants, AKA you. I of course can not condone excessive experiments on a few mutants, that could endanger their lives. So, instead I ask to bring in more mutants, who all volunteer their blood for research. Just enough every now and then to run some tests and hopefully replicate a cure." The Prime Minister swiped his finger across the screen of the tablet, showing a building with smiling children up front. Though it wasn't obvious in all, Mark could tell these were mutants.

"This, is Children of Hope, a facility that houses and cares for numerous mutant patients who have all volunteered their blood for research. In return their families receive financial aid and medicine to combat poverty and the Plague. A win-win in my book." 

Mark looked at the group pictured in front of the building. There were four of them; a girl with a purple streak in her hair, beside her an Asian boy with a wide smile and short hair, a Caucasian boy with brown hair and a smaller smile, and finally, a boy with black hair and strikingly-bright blue eyes. They looked, happy. Not a common sight where Mark was from.

The Prime Minister smiled. "So? Thoughts?" Mark looked up and grinned. "It looks great, but where is it?" The Prime Minister beamed. "This is in Europe, the U.K. to be precise. That's where the whole project is being developed. We would pay all expenses to get you there of course. No price is too high for the greater good."

Mark leaned back in his chair, eyes still on the picture. "What will happen to my family?" The Prime Minister swiped his finger across the screen. "We have been housing family members in hotels in Italy, due to overcrowding in my country. We pay for their stay, and allow monthly visits. It really is a great opportunity Mark. You would be helping a lot of people."

Mark thought back to his mother and how frail she looked. He also thought about how tired Thomas looked from overworking himself. He was going to _literally_ work himself to death. Not only could they be safe, but Mark could prevent them from ever catching the Plague. He wouldn't have to lose anymore people.

Mark lifted his head up to look at the Prime Minister. "I'll do it." The Prime Minister clapped his hands. "Wonderful, now you just have to convince your brother to let you go."

 _What?_ Mark furrowed his brow. "What are you talking about?" The Prime Minister tilted his head. "Well in order to admit you we need parental permission due to your being seventeen. We would ask your mother, but it is listed that as of an accident a few months ago, your brother became the primary caretaker and head of the household. Technically he is your guardian, and we need you to convince him to let you go."

The door opened again behind Mark. He turned around in his chair to see another masked gunman shoving his brother inside. _"Thomas?!"_ Thomas looked straight at Mark, eyes watering _. "Mark!"_ He ran over just as Mark had gotten out of his chair and wrapped his arms around him. Mark took notice of the cotton sticking out of one nostril and bandage over the nose. 

Thomas glared at the Prime Minister. "You better not have done anything to him, or I swear to God someone is going to pay." The gunman raised his weapon back up only for the Prime Minister to wave him off. He smiled at Thomas. "I do understand your concern, but nothing has happened to your little brother Mr. Jason-"

" _Thomas_ , not Jason."

"... _Thomas_. In fact, we were just talking about a wonderful program that Mark would like to take part in." Thomas looked back at Mark, who had drawn his wings in a little.

"Mark? What is he talking about?" Mark scratched the back of his neck. "Th-there's this program that's developing a cure for the Plague." Thomas's eyes widened. Mark continued.

"They need mutants in order to create it, and they want me to go! They'll fly me out to the U.K-"

"The U.K.?" Thomas snatched Mark's wrist. "Why do they need you to be shipped to another continent?" Mark opened his mouth, only for the Prime Minister to speak.

"It is where the research is being conducted, that way we have results faster than if we collaborated with facilities across the globe. It's very safe I assure you, we even move families of our volunteers to a hotel in Italy and allow monthly visits." Thomas seemed to think about it for a second, only to shake his head. "I'm not letting my little brother become a guinea pig. C'mon Mark, let's go." He began to tug Mark towards the door.

_"No."_

Thomas stopped mid-step, turning to look at Mark. "What?" Mark looked at the floor, then back up.

"No. If I do this I can help Mom. I can help you. I know you've been getting sick, and if I don't go there we'll be thrown back to our old apartment, which we'll probably be kicked out of. Then you'll both get worse and I'll lose you too! Just like _Dad!"_ Mark's voice broke at the end, and he pulled his hand back from Thomas to cover his mouth as sobs racked his body.

There was a few seconds before Thomas wrapped his arms around him, something that happened far too often for Mark's liking. As comforting as it was, he felt like a child. He was too caught up in his thoughts to realize Thomas had said something. "What was that?"

"I said, okay." Mark felt his eyes widen. "Really?" Thomas smiled, though it was a little nervous.

"You're right, we're just going to be out on the streets, besides, I can tell you really want to do this." He looked at the Prime Minister. "We'll definitely be able to see him, right?" The Prime Minister nodded. "Of course." Thomas looked back at Mark. "I guess you're going to the U.K.." Mark wrapped him in a hug, nearly squealing from excitement. "Thank you!"

"Alright, we should get going. I'll take you to your mother-she's resting in one of our rooms-and we can discuss formalities." The Prime Minister stood and walked out the door with the Fischbachs, his bodyguards close behind. After a short walk through the hall they were admitted into another room. In it was a bed and a food tray. Eating from said-food tray was none other than Mrs.Fischbach, who beamed upon seeing her sons. The two brothers ran to their mother, enveloping her in a hug.

Things were going to be better now.


	5. -Four-

Does it always rain this much in London?

Mark tugged the raincoat provided for him around his wings tighter, not really looking forward to wet feathers. He wanted to make a good impression on the other patients, especially since they were going to be living together. His eyes traveled to the large building in front of them. 

They were standing in front of the building Mark had seen in the presentation. It looked a little different from the picture, which caused Mark to wonder exactly how long ago it was taken. He didn't have much time to ponder though, as the Prime Minister spoke.

"Here we are, _Children of Hope_. This is truly one of my country's finest accomplishments." Mark looked around, noticing how the estate was surrounded by a large gate, patrolled by guards. He shifted on his feet, turning to the Prime Minister. "So this place is heavily guarded." The Prime Minister nodded. "Unfortunately not everyone is on board with their taxes paying for mutant aid."

Mark narrowed his eyes. "But, they know what the project is about, right?" The Prime Minister shook his head. "No, they don't. If I reveal to the public how fast the Plague is spreading there would be a massive panic. We decided to keep silent about it instead. Everyone assumes that this is just another segregated school for mutants." Mark frowned at the word _segregated_. His old high school principal suggested that he transfer to a mutants-only school. The guy was honestly a dick, but Mark's parents fought for the right for Mark to attend regular school. Especially his father.

Mark clenched his hands into fists, keeping himself grounded. He can't break down. Not here, and definitely not now. The Prime Minister walked up to the door and took out a card. He scanned it, and in two to three seconds the door opened. He gestured for Mark to go first. 

Mark walked through the door, the guards and Prime Minister trailing after him. He looked around, seeing himself in a type of waiting room. A bored-looking young woman was at the front desk, her eyes scrutinizing Mark's figure. She had her hair tied into a black bun and bags under her eyes. Despite her glare, the Prime Minister smiled. "Hello Ms. Blackery! I've brought another wonderful volunteer, and we just need you to authorize us to use the elevator." 

Ms. Blackery rolled her eyes and hit a button on her desk. A loud buzz resonated throughout the room and they began walking down the hall towards an elevator. Once inside the Prime Minister typed a code into a keypad. The elevator doors closed as they descended.

The Prime Minister turned to Mark. "Now Mark, you don't have to leave the raincoat on, you're among friends here. You don't have to hide your wings anymore." He smiled warmly at Mark. Mark smiled back, and pulled off his coat, revealing a black muscle shirt with slits in the back that the Prime Minister had custom made for him. One of the guards took the jacket from him along with the Prime Minister's.

The elevator beeped, and the doors slid open. The Prime Minister lead Mark out whilst the guards kept watch behind. They came upon another set of doors, these made of a thick metal. The Prime Minister held out his keycard again, and the doors opened. _A lot of security_. It has to just be safety measures. The public can be cruel.

Once the doors shut behind them Mark took in the scenery. They were looking at a large hall with numerous doors lining each side. "Right now we are heading down the corridor. We have the main rooms first, for example the dining area and common spaces. Then the bedrooms, where you will be assigned a solitary room all to yourself. Finally the testing room, where a few times a week you will participate in miniature experiments." Mark glanced at the doors as he said this, noticing all of them were closed.

"Um, why are all the doors shut? Is there nobody allowed in the hall?" The Prime Minister smiled. "We have a schedule that the patients need to follow. Due to a few, incidents a couple years ago we cannot allow patients to roam the halls freely. It's not as much of a drag as it sounds! At each of the three meal times you are with your peers in the dining room. If you're not there you are either in the common room, scheduled testing, or recovering in your room."

Mark furrowed his brow. "Recovery?" The Prime Minister nodded. "The experiments can be a little hard on certain mutants, so we allow a recovery day right after. Don't worry, you seem like a stronger set, you shouldn't have a problem." He walked up to a door and tapped into a keypad at the side. The door slid open, revealing a large dining room with numerous mutants lining the tables. Mark noticed that they all seemed to be around his age.

They were all smiling and laughing, some showing off their abilities. One blonde-haired boy sped by in a blur, laughing loudly. _Super-speed_. Another boy shape-shifted into an owl, flying to perch on another boy's shoulder. The boy he landed on had pale skin and was making water levitate above his palm. _Shape-shifting and water manipulation._ A boy with curly hair stretched his torso far beyond what was normally possible so he could grab a darker-skinned girl that was levitating in the air. 

Mark felt himself beam. He'd never seen so many mutants in one place.

"You hungry?" Mark's stomach growled, causing him to blush. He never really ate much anymore, it all usually went to his mother and brother, despite both their protests.

"I will take that as a yes." The Prime Minister scanned the crowd before his eyes landed on a particular individual. "Ryan Higa!" An Asian boy who was sitting with a small group of people stood up and walked over. "Ryan, I'd like you to meet Mark Fischbach. I'm sure you can tell by now that he is a new volunteer. I need you to show him around." Ryan nodded and gestured for Mark to follow him. 

"I'll see you during testing tomorrow morning Mark!" With that, the Prime Minister turned and walked out of the dining area, his guards trailing behind. Mark turned to Ryan, who was still beaming.

"So I have a feeling you're a telepath." Ryan gave a goofy smirk as he looked at Mark's wings. Mark rolled his eyes. "Of course, how could you tell?"

The two laughed at their joke as Ryan led them into the kitchen. "You came just in time, dinner ends in about twenty minutes." Mark's eyes widened at the large buffet table before them. There was spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, and _ice cream_. It had been _years_ since Mark ate ice cream. He took a small amount of spaghetti and salad, one garlic bread, and a teeny-tiny scoop of ice cream. 

Ryan furrowed his brow. "Are you sure you're not hungry for more?" Mark shook his head sheepishly. "I usually save most of the food for my mom and brother. Still, this is more than enough." Ryan nodded and led Mark to the table he was sitting at. It was the same spot where stretchy-boy and floaty-girl were sitting. 

The girl's eyes zoned in on Mark as she floated back down to her seat. She adjusted the baseball cap on the top of her head to face backwards and smirked. "Damn Ryan! Who's the hottie?" Mark blushed as Ryan rolled his eyes. "His name is _Mark_ , and please stop making him uncomfortable _Lilly_." Lilly scoffed. "I'm _flattering_ him. Don't get jealous just because there's some more Asian persuasion up in here!"

Ryan smirked and sat down at the table, Mark doing the same. "Don't mind her, she's just bold." Ryan gestured to the girl first. "This is _Lilly Singh_. She can fly, has super strength, and is the second-fastest mutant here." Lilly flexed her arms. "They call me _Superwoman_." Stretchy-boy chuckled. "You call yourself that."

"This," Ryan gestured to Stretchy-boy, "Is _PJ Liguori_. He can shape-shift his body as it it were made of clay. He does have limits however. His organs can't shrink or enlarge, only stretch." PJ shrugged. "It doesn't really bother me, I'm still taller than most of the people here."

Lilly pointed at Mark's wings. "So are those just for show, or can you actually fly?" Mark drew his wings in a little. "Well, yeah. I've done it before." PJ beamed. "Then fly for us!" Mark felt his smile multiply. They were asking him to fly. No one was calling him a freak or telling him to hide his wings. They accepted him.

Mark stood up, spreading his wings out to their full span. He flapped them up and down, gaining height with every movement. PJ and Lilly cheered him on, Lilly even flying up with him. Ryan just leaned back in his chair and smiled.

After a few seconds Mark floated back down to his feet, taking a bow. Lilly slid back into her chair, clapping her hands wildly. "Those things are awesome! Even if they're pink." 

Mark felt a large gush of wind as a blonde boy appeared at his side. "Pink is such a good color on him though." The boy draped his arm over Mark's shoulders. "Besides, doesn't this man just _ooze_ gracefulness? Look at his hair! _His fucking hair looks like it should be on a god!"_

Ryan chuckled. "Well Mark, this charming man is _Felix Kjellberg._ He's faster than his own brain, which isn't that hard considering his IQ." Felix punched him in the shoulder. "What my good pal Ryan meant to say was that I am a fabulous fucking _queen_." He pursed his lips and flipped his hair for emphasis, earning laughter from all. Ryan held his hands up. "Okay guys, let's let Mark get some food in him. The poor guy's probably starving."

Felix rolled his eyes and sat down on the other side of Mark. "Fine, but pinkie is going to have to race me. I wanna know how fast those things go." Mark scratched the back of his neck as he took a bite of spaghetti. "I'm not particularly fast, I could probably run almost as fast as I can fly." Felix smirked. "Then I'm still the king!"

PJ raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were the queen?" Felix slammed his hand on the table, almost causing Mark to choke on a piece of garlic bread. 

"I am the _entire fucking castle!"_ Ryan patted Mark's back as he glared at Felix. " _Really?_ He's been here not even a full hour and already you've almost killed him." Felix's smile dropped as his eyes turned cold. " _I've_ almost killed him? Please, just wait for tomorr-"

 _"Felix!"_ Ryan hissed.

The entire table was silent. Mark moved his eyes from Felix to his nearly empty plate, dread pooling in his stomach. What did he mean by that? Ryan stood up and smiled at Felix, though it didn't reach his eyes.

"Hey Fe, I think you should start heading to the door. They'll be open soon since dinner is almost over." Felix glared hard at Ryan before it melted into a smile, though it didn't really seem natural. "Yeah, thanks Ryan." He waved at Mark before turning to walk towards the door.

A loud buzzing noise sounded throughout the room as the door opened. PJ and Lilly both muttered byes before slipping out the door. Mark stood up and tossed his foam tray into a waste basket. Ryan placed a hand on his shoulder, smile still present on his face. "I'll show you to your room."

The duo walked out of the dining area and into the hall. Most of the mutants had already entered their rooms, leaving a mostly empty hallway. Ryan started walking past the rooms, saying hi to a few others before they closed their doors. Mark decided now was a good time as any to ask about what Felix had said earlier.

"Hey Mark, don't worry about what Felix said, okay? He's usually sour towards newbies. Heck, he's sour towards everyone. I think the only person he's actually genuinely friends with is- Oh! We're here!" Ryan cut himself off as he stopped outside of an open door. A tag was stuck on with the name _M. FISCHBACH_. Mark stepped inside, jumping as the door instantly shut behind him. He turned and ran to the door, finding that he couldn't open it

"Hey don't freak out, it's just a safety measure. The door will open back up tomorrow morning, there's a bathroom behind a door in there if you need to shower or anything. Night!" Mark heard Ryan's footsteps fade away.

The room was a decent size, though a little bare. It was almost as big as his old apartment, and was stark white, like most of everything else. A bed sat in the middle of the room, a nightstand on one side, and a dresser on the other. Just like Ryan had said, there was a door that led into the bathroom.

The bathroom was pretty basic as well. Toilet, sink, medicine cabinet, shower/bath, shampoo, conditioner, soap, towels, toothpaste, and new a toothbrush. Mark stripped himself of his clothes, not remembering the last time he had a shower, and stepped inside.

The water was warm and the soap was plentiful, which made the shower feel all the more heavenly. After Mark stepped out and dried off he looked in the dresser, discovering some pyjamas in his size. A black t-shirt and black shorts. Simple. Comfy. Mark slipped them on and shut the light off before clambering into bed.

He could get used to this.


	6. -Five-

_He could only feel heat._

_His eyes and lungs burned from the smoke pouring in, the flames licking at his feathers, singeing them._

_It surrounded him. Engulfed him._

_And then, it was very cold._

Mark jolted awake, his body drenched in icy water. He tried to wipe it away from his face, only to find that he couldn't. Mark looked down at his body, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

He was laying on a metal table, a bar around his midsection keeping him in place. Four other bars held down his wrists and ankles. Mark pushed against the restraints, feeling absolutely nothing give. He had to get out, his wings were already starting to cramp.

Mark looked around the room he was in. It was large, white, and very bright, similar to a hospital. Mark looked around the rest of the room and only saw a tray about a foot away from his left side. There were numerous instruments on it that he couldn't identify, giving him a sick feeling in his stomach.

Mark heard a door open to the right of him and craned his neck in it's direction. Two figures walked through before it closed. One was a woman in a lab coat with a surgical mask and rubber gloves. She walked over to the tray and began to fidget with the tools.

Mark looked to the other figure. He was a man, wearing the same attire as the woman. The only difference was that the man didn't walk over to the tray. Instead he went straight to Mark's table, hovering right next to his face.

Even though his throat felt like sandpaper, Mark spoke. “H-hey, what's going on? Who are you people?!” The man ignored him as he talked to the woman.

“Are we ready for vial one?” The woman nodded. “Everything's sterile, extract it from right wrist.” She handed the man an empty syringe. It was large. The man walked over to Mark's right arm and placed his hand on it before sticking the needle inside the wrist. Mark winced. He never really liked needles.

The man withdrew about an ounce of blood before walking back to the woman. Mark exhaled in relief. They were just taking blood samples. It was unnerving that they weren't really talking to him and that he had to be strapped down, but maybe they just didn't want him to lash out? His wings were pretty strong after all.

Yeah, that had to be it.

The man came back with another empty vial and repeated the same actions as earlier. Mark was a little less freaked out now that he realized it was only blood samples. He'd have to talk to somebody about the procedure though. Waking up strapped to a table in an unfamiliar place isn't exactly Mark's cup of tea.

“Fischbach gene reaction to A-1.” The woman's voice was cold and unfeeling. Mark saw her readying another syringe out of the corner of his eye, though it wasn't empty. A bluish-green liquid was swirling around in the container, emitting a soft glow. The man walked up and grabbed Mark's chin, forcing him to face the wall. A sharp pain hit Mark's neck, causing him to bite his tongue. The man wiped the small bead of blood off of Mark's neck with a tissue before heading back to the tray.

It felt- _cold_. Like, _really_ cold. Mark shivered as he felt the temperature drop. His wings curled as much as they could around his back, trying to provide some type of warmth. It didn't really work well. The cold quickly went from his skin deeper into his body, making even his blood somehow feel like it was frozen. He started to cough, stressing his cold lungs even more.

Eventually the coughing stopped and his body temperature returned to normal. The woman readied another syringe, this time the liquid being an orange-yellow. “Reaction to A-1 positive. Gene reaction to B-1.” The man took the other syringe and walked back over to Mark. He grabbed his chin and tilted it to the side again.

Mark shook his head. “I-I thought you were just taking blo-” He cut himself off as he felt the sharp prick of the needle. It hurt more than the last one. After the man pulled away Mark felt his face heat up. Sweat started to accumulate all over his body. It was unbearably warm. It felt like the feathers on his wings were sticking to his back. He almost wished for that cold thing they gave him earlier.

Almost.

Just as before, the heat traveled deeper into his body, turning him into a living oven. It was almost like his organs were melting. It didn't feel natural, it was awful. Warm liquid started to trail out of his eyes. It took him a second to realize they were tears.

After what felt like forever, the feeling finally faded, and his body cooled down, feeling like his own again. Mark used all his energy to push against the restraints. He wasn't doing anything, he wasn't strong enough.

The woman spoke again as the man arrived with another syringe, this one a dark grey, metallic color. “Reaction to B-1 positive. Final reaction applied to C-1.” Mark frantically shook his head, tears pouring down his face. Screw not breaking down, that shit _hurt_.

“Please! Th-this doesn't feel right!” He was sobbing now. “Why are you doing this? Stop! For the love of God stop!!” Mark watched in wide-eyed horror as the man turned his neck to the side and injected him with the last syringe. That one hurt most of all.

There was no temperature change this time, which Mark was grateful for. But then, he felt it.

It started from the inside. A weird itch began to travel around his body, like something foreign was crawling inside him. He started to scratch at his palms, willing whatever he thought was inside to leave.

The itching turned into scratching, like thousands of tiny needles attacking his insides. The scratching settled at his stomach, causing intense pain. Mark started to tremble as he felt something rise in his throat.

He started to hack, blood spewing everywhere. It splattered over himself, the table, even the “doctors”, though Mark refused to believe any real doctor would allow this.

He kept hacking, losing even more blood. It hurt. Mark would give anything for one of the other needles. Anything was better than this.

The man glanced to the woman. “Should we call it?” The woman shook her head.”Give him a few more seconds. He might surprise us.”

They're monsters. Only monsters would do this to someone. Mark scratched at his palms until they bled. He was still coughing up blood, in fact, it felt like he was coughing up even more blood now. It was getting harder to breathe.

He was going to die. They were going to kill him.

Well Mark wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. He had to end it. _Now_.

Mark threw the back of his head against the table, sending waves of pain through his skull. He did it again. And again. Something warm started to drip down the back of his neck. It was working.

Mark kept at it, ignoring the woman screaming at someone to bring in the healer. He bit his tongue to keep from screaming. It began to bleed, adding to the mess of coppery fluid already coating his gums. He continued to slam his head against the table, blood pooling around him. Everything was getting darker.

The doors opened again, allowing two more people to walk in. One of them grabbed Mark's head, stopping him from slamming it again. Mark shrieked as the pain tripled.

The same pair of hands went to Mark's temples. Mark kept screeching as everything around him continued to fade.

Then, he saw a light.

A _green_ light.

Mark stopped screaming. The darkness dissipated along with the pain. He could clearly see the green light now. No, it wasn't just a light, it was a _glow_. A glowing green eye to be precise.

A boy that looked around Mark's age stood above him, his hands still touching the sides of Mark's face. He had brown hair with a little bit of grey peeking out here and there, most likely from stress. His skin was pale, but clear. Almost like he had never received a blemish or scratch in his life. That wasn't the first thing Mark noticed however.

The boy had two different colored eyes. Not the Irises, both of them were a sparkling blue. No, it was the whites of his eyes. One was white, the other a bright green. The green eye was glowing.

After a few seconds the eye stopped glowing, though it remained green. Mark had no feeling of pain in him. At all. Not only did he feel better internally, his palms were no longer scratched and bloody. In fact, all the scratches and bruises he got from the mobs were gone. It was as if everything that had happened was a dream.

 _A nightmare_.

The boy's lips moved, and Mark realized he had said something. “What was that?” The boy chuckled. “I asked if there was any more pain.” Mark shook his head. The boy smiled, removing his hands. “Good.”

“Alright, we need you for the next subject.” The other man who had walked in with the boy grabbed him by the shoulders, yanking him away from Mark. “Hey!” Mark tried to wriggle to get a better view of them. “I never got your na-” He was cut off by a sharp pain in his neck. _Again?_ The male “doctor” from before walked away with an empty syringe.

Mark's body tensed up before going completely limp. He could only move his eyes. The male doctor unlocked the bars from Mark's wrists, ankles, and torso. He then tried to pick Mark up from the table, only to drop him. “Really Jim?” The female doctor mocked. "Jim" groaned. “His wings add so much weight!”

Mark glared at him as much as he could in his current state. _Fuck you._

“No dip Sherlock. Just wheel him back. The table has wheels you know.” Jim pushed against the table, face flushing red. The female doctor sighed. “Henry, take Fischbach back to his room.” Mark saw the same man that was holding the boy from earlier grab the edge of the table that was near Mark's feet and roll him out. Before Mark left he managed to hear the female doctor speak to the boy.

“I've told you before not to speak to the patients.”

“I know. I'm sorry.”

“If we have a repeat of Michelle I’ll have no choice bu-” The doors shut behind them, cutting off the rest of her sentence. Mark's eyes darted around frantically as “Henry” wheeled him past numerous doors.

A loud buzz resonated throughout the hall, and all of the doors opened. Numerous students exited their rooms and walked past Mark into the cafeteria. Some looked at him with pitiful expressions, others completely ignored him. Mark saw PJ and Lilly, and he looked to them for help. They averted their eyes and continued.

Felix brushed by, taking a moment to glare at Mark before heading in. _What did he ever do to him?_

Finally, Ryan walked by. He looked down at Mark, giving a sad smile. _At least he bothered to smile._ Finally all the students were in the cafeteria, and Henry was able to wheel Mark to his room. He stopped by the bed and lifted Mark up. Mark was thrown onto his back, his skull hitting the headboard, sending his mind reeling. It seemed that Henry didn’t really care for providing comfort. One of Mark’s legs was hanging off the bed, and a wing was folded underneath his back. That was not going to feel nice later on. Henry gave no thought to it as he wheeled the cart out, exiting the room.

A loud buzz sounded and the door to Mark's bedroom closed. A female’s recorded voice spoke in a fake cheery tone.

“Recovery day starts now.”


	7. -Six-

It took almost two hours, but eventually the paralysis wore off. Mark sat up, quickly regretting it as pain shot throughout his whole entire body. _Stupid guard-dude_. He just tossed Mark onto the bed, not even caring to think about how leaving him in that position could harm his wings. Speaking of which- Mark stretched his wings.

The left one was fine, just a little sore. The right one, however, hurt each time Mark moved it. He tried to stretch it a little more, only to wince. _Ow_. Mark cursed the guard again as he moved one hand to massage the end of his wing.

As Mark carefully worked the knots out of his wing, his mind drifted back to the room. He never wanted to go in there again. The needles, the weird substances that nearly destroyed his innards. It hurt more than anything he had ever experienced. Pain like that shouldn't be felt by anybody.

But it didn't make sense. Why _did_ they do that? He thought they would be experimenting on his already-extracted blood, not the stuff still inside him. What was the point? Was the cure really that hard to create that they had to resort to human- er, _mutant_ experimentation?

A growling noise emitted from Mark's stomach. Ah, right. Breakfast. It ended an hour ago, so was he just not supposed to eat all day? Then again, it wouldn't really be hard for him. Once while they were low on rations, Mark and Thomas gave up eating for three days so they could feed their Mom. 

Still, Mark thought those days were over. The Prime Minister made him believe that him and his family could finally relax. Although he technically didn't lie about anything. He said that the experiments would possibly be hard on Mark and even said some mutants needed recovery days. Nothing that had happened had contradicted his words. Maybe he didn't even know what was going on?

Mark backtracked to his family. Since the Prime Minister had yet to lie, Mark assumed that they were all okay.

He _hoped_ they were all okay.

Just the feeling of anything happening to them gave Mark a nervous stomach. That, added to the uncomfortable hunger, made him feel nauseated. He stood up and walked over to the bathroom. 

Mark turned on the faucet and bent down to splash water on his face. Afterwards he glanced into the mirror.

Despite the amazing job the boy from earlier did at healing him, Mark could clearly see the stress in his face. It made him look weak and afraid, which, Mark thought, may not be far from the truth.

Mark didn't recall seeing the guy in the cafeteria. He would've remembered a glowing green eye amongst the crowd. Perhaps he has to be in the labs just in case if they need a healer, which is most likely always. _Poor_ _guy_. Even though what Mark went through was awful, at least he could interact with others going through the same things he was.

Well, at least _after_ recovery day.

Mark walked out of the bathroom and looked around the rest of his bedroom. Again, nothing much to do in here. Mark didn't really see the point of his recovery day. Sure, it would seem practical, but that guy healed him. He didn't need any rest. Now he was just confused, angry, and a little sore. Most importantly, however, he was alone and completely bored.

Mark threw himself onto the bed, crying out as he landed on his sore wing. Groaning, he rolled over onto his stomach. He stared at the wall, humming random songs to himself.

Eventually he made a mistake and hummed an old song that his mother used to sing to him. Some tears sprang into his eyes. Better to let them out here rather than break down later. He smiled as the tears dribbled down his cheeks.

**You're pathetic.**

Mark stopped humming. He did just hear that, right?

**Jeez, and an idiot.**

Mark pushed himself off of his stomach, eyes darting around. "Who's in here?" The voice was female. His eyes shot up to the ceiling. "Is this the recorded message lady? If so you're pretty rude!"

There was no answer this time. Mark pushed himself onto his knees and glared hard at the ceiling. "Look you can insult me, that's fine, but at least acknowledge me!" As he said that the door to his bedroom slid open.

A man stepped in, completely the opposite of who Mark expected. He seemed to be in his late twenties, brown-haired and sporting a beard. He was wearing a labcoat and holding a clipboard. Mark knew without a doubt he worked for _Children of Hope._ The door slid shut behind him.

The man beamed at Mark. "Hello Mr. Fischbach, my name is Dr. Morrison. I am a type of psychiatrist for the wonderful patients here." _As if a psychiatrist could fix Mark's mental state at this point._ The doctor stood at the foot of the bed. "I am going to ask you a few questions, and then you can ask me some."

Mark raised an eyebrow. "Um, okay. Sure?" Dr. Morrison looked down at his clipboard, tapping his pencil against the edge. "Alright, we would like to know the extent of your abilities. We obviously know without looking at your profile that you have physical abnormalities, but we want to know what the full extent of your mutant powers are."

 _Physical abnormalities?_ "Do you mean my wings?" Dr. Morrison nodded. Mark shook his head. "No, I mean my wings are just, wings. I can fly and they're pretty strong I guess." Dr. Morrison scribbled something down. 

"Wonderful, now just a quick question about school. I looked at some medical records. You were in the hospital quite a bit during your school years. At first I thought you got sick a lot, but then I looked a little closer. Apparently you had a bullying problem."

Mark shifted on the bed. "Well being a mutant is kind of like a big red target. The fact that my mutation is physical doesn't really help either." Mark stretched out his wings, the pain in the right one now duller.

Dr. Morrison gave a sad smile. "Trust me Mark, you're not alone. Every mutant here has dealt with discrimination of some sort. We have some who were bullied like you, and others who were abused by their own families." He shook his head. "The world is awful. Not much we can do about it other than hope that mutants will be accepted one day."

Dr. Morrison scribbled some more onto his clipboard. Mark smiled at him. He was the first adult who actually sounded like he cared, besides the Prime Minister of course. Still, that didn't mean Mark could trust either of them. Especially after what happened in the lab. After a few seconds Dr. Morrison looked up.

"Okay, we already know that after highschool you stayed in a steady job for a few months before an accident occurred with your mother. It was never clarified in your files what caused it."

Mark started to scratch at his arms. "Um, well, there.." His eyes began to get glossy as he stared at the door behind Dr. Morrison.

 _Fire_.

Dr. Morrison furrowed his brow. "Mr. Fischbach? Are you okay?" Mark nodded, his hands shaking a little. "Y-yeah!" 

"We can move on if you'd like." He nodded again.

Mark clenched his fists as he willed the memories to go away. For a second they started to fade, and he relaxed.

**It's all your fault.**

The female voice from before filled the room. Mark snapped his head to the ceiling as his heart beat a little faster. "U-um, why is she saying that?" Dr. Morrison narrowed his eyes. "What?"

Mark pointed a shaky finger to the ceiling. "Her! That voice!! Can't you hear?" Dr. Morrison still didn't look like he was convinced.

**It's all your fault.**

Mark placed his hands over his ears as he glared at the ceiling. "Shut up!"

**IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT.**

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!" Mark felt tears stream down his face as the voice became even _louder_. He looked over to Dr. Morrison, who seemed concerned, but otherwise unaffected by the voice. _How in the world couldn't he hear her?_

**It's. All. Your. Fault.**

It started to feel warm.

Flames burst up around them. Mark ripped his hands away from his ears as he heard a cracking noise. 

The ceiling broke. A support beam fell and pierced through his wing, causing him to cry out as a wave of intense pain surged through his body.

_It hurts._

_Everything hurts._

**It's all your fault.**

**It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault It's all your fault-**

"I'm sorry!" Mark cried. "I'm so sorry!"

"Mark!" Dr. Morrison reached a hand through the smoke and placed it on his shoulder. "Count to three, then backwards." Mark did it, his breathing a little shaky. "I-It's not wo-orking." 

"Mark, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Don't think about it, leave that place. You're here. You're okay." Mark took a shaky breath in and let a shaky breath out. In. Out. In. Out. After a few stressful minutes, Mark had finally calmed himself.

Mark looked around the room. Everything was back to normal. No fire has taken place, no blood was shed. Even the voice was silent. Dr. Morrison pulled his hand away from Mark's shoulder. "Are you okay? I didn't know that this was such a traumatizing event."

Mark nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thank you." He saw a phone in Dr. Morrison's hand, but ignored it. "How did you get so good at dealing with panic attacks?" Dr. Morrison gestured to himself. "I actually have anxiety, so it's just something I picked up. If you need help with another attack I'm always available, just ask for me." Mark gave a grateful smile. "Thank you."

Dr. Morrison sighed. "I think that's a good stopping point for today. You can ask me some questions now if you'd like."

Mark perked up. Maybe he could actually get some answers. If he were to get them from anyone, it would be Dr. Morrison.

"What did they inject me with?" Dr. Morrison gave a pained smile, like he was waiting for that question.

"You were injected with three serums. Serum A is used to see how your blood reacts with other mutant blood. Serum B is used to see how your blood reacts to human blood. Serum C is used to see how well your blood reacts to mixing with human-mutant blood. It's all used to make sure your blood is compatible with the other mixtures we have created."

Mark glanced down at his wrists. "Why did they use it on my body, rather than in the blood samples that were already taken?"

"The cure will need to be used in live people, so we need to see how the mixtures react in bodies. The blood they took from you is being added to other mixtures for other experiments."

Mark looked down at his palms. He made it sound like what they were doing was okay. Maybe it was. They had a healer, so Mark was never in _real_ danger. Still, it hurt so much. Mark looked back up to Dr. Morrison. "I guess that's all.."

Dr. Morrison scribbled something else down on his clipboard. "Thank you for your time Mr. Fischbach. Have a great recovery day!" He exited the room.

Mark stared at the door as it slid shut behind him.


	8. -Seven-

Mark didn't have a nightmare that night.

Instead, he dreamed. 

He had dreamt of soaring through the skies, Thomas chasing him from the ground, cheering him on. Their mother and father sat in the grass together, smiling at their sons.

It was, _perfect_.

Naturally he was disappointed to wake up back in his room, a buzzing noise filling his ears. He groaned as he sat up. At least he didn't have to stay in bed all day.

Mark swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He walked over to the dresser, expanding his wings to stretch them out. Once he was there he opened a drawer and grabbed a black t-shirt, boxers, and a pair of black fitted pants. He began to change into the new clothes as he entered the bathroom.

After doing his business he walked out and stared at the door to the hallway, which was now open.

Mark poked his head out to see all of the mutants from the other day filing into the dining area. They were just as depressing as yesterday. Mark followed them into the dining area, trying to look for a familiar face amongst the crowd. At the moment he saw no one, so he just got in line for breakfast and kept his eyes down.

The buffet table was just as extravagant as the first day he came. Eggs, pancakes, waffles, bacon, French toast, fruit, omelettes, even coffee. There was so much food. Mark tried to stay modest with his portions, not wanting to stuff himself too much after a day of not eating. That would just make him feel sick. After getting a small stack of pancakes and some coffee, Mark left the line to go look for a place to sit.

The atmosphere of the room was not as happy as when Mark first arrived, though it still held a little bit of cheer. Friends were conversing at tables, talking about various interests. They weren't overjoyed to be here, but it looked like having friends helped. Mark’s hands tightened on his tray.

Hopefully Ryan and the others were just as kind as before, otherwise Mark wasn't sure how to go about making friends with these people. His eyes scanned over the tables, stopping at one where PJ and Felix sat. Mark was about to walk over when Felix looked up, his eyes cold.

Something told him to look elsewhere.

“Mark!” Mark snapped his head to the source of the voice, finding Ryan. He sighed in relief as he walked over and sat down on Ryan’s right. There were two other boys sitting across from them, both with emo hair cuts that were parted opposite of each other. One had brown eyes and a monotone expression. The other had blue eyes and a bright smile.

Ryan beamed at the boys as he gestured a hand towards Mark. “This is Mark, as you can see.” He then switched his hand to gesture towards the boys. “This, is Dan and Phil.”

“Hi! I'm Phil.” The smiling boy spoke first, his blue eyes wide and bright. The other boy who could only be Dan rolled his eyes. “Phil, Ryan just introduced us.”

“He didn't clarify which of us was which!”

“He probably would've if you hadn't interrupted him.”

“Really?” Phil gave an apologetic look to Ryan. “I'm sorry Ryan!”

Ryan gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “You're fine Phil. Anyway, what was that story you were telling?” Phil beamed and started to ramble about some hamster. Mark ate his pancakes, taking a sip of his coffee now and then. They were both flavors he hadn't ever experienced, so he wanted to savor every second.

About midway through the story Mark felt someone staring at him. He looked back over to the table Felix and PJ were at, only to see them both invested in some topic. He looked at the other tables, finding no one looking in his direction. He shrugged and looked back to the table, only to tense.

Dan was glaring at him.

Mark chewed his pancake slower, nervous but still hungry. Dan’s glare wasn't exactly menacing, more concentrated, like he was trying to read some tricky handwriting. Mark tried to look to the others for guidance. Phil was too immersed in his own story to notice, and Ryan was too busy laughing. Mark looked down at his empty plate.

There goes his personal distraction. Mark drew his wings in on himself, as if he could shrink and therefore be free of Dan’s gaze. He felt like he was in a court and under the brightest spotlight in the world. It made him queasy. Maybe he could just continue staring at the table?

Mark clenched his hands into fists. He shouldn’t be afraid! This Dan guy couldn’t do anything to him, the facility wouldn’t allow it. Right? He should stare back, then Dan might finally look away. Mark forced his head up, arms trembling a bit. His eyes locked with Dan’s.

He instantly regretted it.

The room around them disappeared. The tables and students were all gone, replaced by an empty elementary school classroom. Mark looked down at his body. He was a child again. He looked around the room seeing other children, fear building in his stomach.

All of the children were faceless. Plastic copies of one another. A faceless woman was at the head of the classroom writing a name onto the blackboard. When she turned around, Mark tensed.

It was his name.

All of the children turned to stare at him. The woman grabbed Mark by the wrist, pulling him to the front of the room. Once they were there she clutched his wing. Numerous words spilled from her lip-less face. Words like _unnatural_ and _defect_. The children pointed and laughed.

Their laughter was loud and hurt Mark's ears. He covered them, tears pricking his eyes. _Why were they doing this to him_ _?_ He squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming down his face.

Pain suddenly spread across his wings. Mark opened his eyes and watched in horror as the faceless children began to pull his feathers off. It hurt it hurt _it hurt_. They kept the names coming. 

_Mutie._

_Freak._

_Defect._

_Mistake._

Mark shook his head rapidly, body trembling and eyes shut tight. 

_**They're right.** _

_**We shouldn't exist.** _

A pair of hands grabbed Mark's shoulders and shook them. “Mark!” He opened his eyes upon hearing Ryan's voice, now back in the dining area. There were tears staining his cheeks. Everything about what had happened seemed like it wasn't caused by himself. Especially those last thoughts. _They weren't his own..._

Phil had concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?” Mark nodded, making sure to check his wings for any missing feathers. Thankfully they were all intact. Mark wasn't vain, he lost some every now and then, but he could have sworn he just felt fistfuls of them yanked out. Ryan glared at Dan, who was sitting with a bored expression. “What the Hell was that Dan?!”

Dan shrugged. “Michelle told me to find out what he was hiding. I didn’t find anything beyond the typical childhood trauma though. She was either lying or this guy's got something he _really_ doesn't want anyone to see.”

Mark folded his arms. “I'm not hiding anything, and what was _that?!”_ Dan chuckled. “One of your worst memories. Your teacher brought you up to the front of the class and began to explain to the students why you were a _de-evolution_ in the human species. Later that day children would find you on the playground and pull at the feathers on your wings.”

Phil gave Mark a sympathetic look. “We've all dealt with bullies Mark, it's nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Hold it!” Dan leaned forward on the table. “You went to the same boys the next day and grabbed one of them by their ankle and flew ten feet in the air, threatening to drop them if they ever touched your wings again-”

“Dan! He didn't do it because they pulled his feathers out!” Phil spoke up. Mark narrowed his eyes. _How did he-_

“Mark's older brother talked to the same boys after they hurt Mark and told them to leave his little brother alone. The boys were all bigger than him though, and beat him up. Mark threatened those jerks because they _hurt his brother!_ And you know very well he wasn't intending on dropping him _Dan!”_

Mark put his hands up. “Wait, how do both of you know this?!” Dan rolled his eyes. “Duh, we can see into your past smart one.”

Mark gawked at him. “What?!” Phil nodded. “Dan always sees the negative side, whereas I see the positive. What you did for your brother was very brave Mark, considering how afraid you were the previous day.”

“Bullshit. Anybody can threaten some snotty brats.” Dan countered.

Mark slouched forward as the two debated over his memories. His real focus was on the words that were going through his head at the end of the memory.

They weren't in his own voice, rather that girl's again. The same girl's voice that was telling him it was his fault. Could she actually be-

Ryan stood, silencing the whole table.

“Dan, Phil, I've told you before to stay out of people's heads. When you both intervene it can get overwhelming.”

Dan scoffed. “You're such a hypocrite-”

Ryan raised an eyebrow in Dan’s direction, and he shut up, a large smile on his face. It looked terrifying and extremely forced. 

_“Stay. Out. Of. It.”_ Dan and Phil nodded simultaneously, Phil apologizing for both of them. Ryan turned to Mark, who was gaping at him. “H-How-”

“I guess it's time I share. I can influence positive feelings on someone, even against their will. To do that I have to look through their current thoughts and determine what is upsetting them, then counteract it with my ability. It's not something I like to do, but it helps keep things civil around here.” Mark bit his cheek. _He should probably be careful about what he thinks from now on._

Phil looked at something beyond Mark. “Huh, I didn't know Jack got to eat with us today.” Dan looked up, the fake smile stretching his face painfully. Ryan and Mark looked towards the door, where a guard had brought in a boy.

_The same boy Mark saw from the lab._

Jack barely took a step forward before a blur of blue charged into him. He stumbled back for a second as Felix wrapped his arms around him in a hug. They stood like that for a moment before PJ joined in. Mark watched as they all headed to the buffet table.

Ryan smirked. “Every time I see that it makes me smile.”

“You never stop smiling.” Dan quipped through his teeth. Ryan chuckled and Dan’s smile faded. He groaned and rubbed his cheeks. “Smiles aren't my thing.” Phil frowned. “Aw, but you look so good with one!”

Mark turned to Ryan. “Hey Ryan, what's the deal with Felix and that guy? He acted like they hadn't seen each other in years.” Ryan smiled sadly. “It feels like that sometimes. I'm sure that after your “tests” you were able to see Jack's powers. He's the only mutant I've ever met with that ability. I've met a lot. The scientists like to keep him in the labs for both his own tests and helping keep the patients alive. It's usually a few days a week, though he used to be gone for months. Thankfully we now have Dr. Morrison, who cares about everybody's well being. Physical and mental.”

Mark smiled. Ryan spoke like everything was better here now, like Dr. Morrison was a blessing. Maybe it was.

Maybe it wasn't.

Ryan pointed to Jack and Felix, who were doubled over in laughter as PJ did some type of impression. “Felix and Jack were some of the first subjects, after me of course. They both grew up together, and are basically brothers. PJ joined the duo only about a year ago and is already their bro.”

A loud buzz sounded. The door into the hall opened and students began to file out. Dan and Phil left the table, putting Mark in a temporary panic. He didn't want to be alone. Ryan put a hand on Mark's shoulder, calming him down. “Don't worry, you can stick with me. I'll introduce you to some more people.” The two then exited the dining area and entered the hall.

Maybe it _would_ be okay here.


	9. -Eight-

Mark followed Ryan out of the door and into the hallway. Dan and Phil were nowhere in sight, which meant they were probably already in a common room. Mark would've been able to see them if they were in the crowd, they tower over most of the people here. He felt Ryan's hand on his back steer him towards one of the rooms. They entered said-room, the door sliding shut behind them.

Mark took a look around. There were couches, chairs, book shelves, tables, and tv's. Mark gaped at it all. He thought the luxury ended at good food!

Ryan laughed. "I knew you'd love it. Each of the three rooms has a specific theme for recreation. Right now we're in the media room. There are books, games, and movies from all over the world! One of the other rooms has a pool, indoor fields, and a gym. The other holds a bunch of instruments and painting supplies." Ryan walked over to a shelf and grabbed a DVD. "Ever seen _Attack on Titan_? It's an awesome anime"

Mark shook his head. "Haven't really watched anything since about my Sophomore year of high school." Ryan shook his head. "That should be a _crime_." 

Mark looked at the large shelves full of new books and movies. "Why is there so much money put into this? Shouldn't this be used on the cure? It would get done faster." Ryan took the DVD out of the case and popped it into one of the DVD players.

"Actually the facility doesn't fund this, nor does the government. It's all donated." He sat down in a beanbag. Mark furrowed his brows before sitting in one next to him. "Who would donate all this to a bunch of mutants?"

Ryan smirked. "Emma and Dr. Morrison. They're both sweethearts." Mark gave him a confused look. 

Ryan facepalmed. "Ah! Completely forgot. Emma is Ms. Blackery. You met her at the entrance." Mark nodded, remembering the the woman who was at the front desk. Ryan continued. "It might seem like a waste, but trust me, it's necessary. If you were here before Emma and Dr.Morrison, you would agree." The opening to _Attack on Titan_ played, and Ryan seemed to know it by heart. He proved it by singing the lyrics word for word. Mark tried to keep himself from laughing, only to fail miserably.

"I can't believe you are watching this without us!" A boy sat down besides Ryan. He had a bowl cut, as out of fashion as that was. "Yeah!" Another boy sat down beside bowl-cut, instead sporting an emo style similar to Dan and Phil's.

Bowl-cut glanced over at Mark. "Who's newbie?" Ryan put an arm around Mark, pulling him forward. "This is Mark. Mark, that's Ian and Anthony. Ian is the one rocking the bowl cut and Anthony is the one with the emo cut. Don't worry they're not psychic or telepathic in any way." 

Anthony rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, he already met Dan and Phil?" Ryan nodded. "Yeah, as always it wasn't pleasant." Ian shrugged. "Don't mind them. They are actually really nice, just horrible at first impressions." He looked up, eyes widening. "Anthony!" Anthony threw his hands up just in time to catch a _flying_ _couch_.

Mark threw himself onto the floor, his heart thundering in his chest. Ian and Ryan just watched Anthony as he stood up, holding the couch up with one hand. "Lilly! This is my downtime!" He then ran off to catch Lilly, who was flying quickly through the room.

Ian shook his head. "I swear, they're always at it. Why can't they just leave it at the gym?" Ryan shrugged. "They're both super competitive. Just be glad Felix doesn't have super strength as well. _That_ would be a nightmare."

Ian nodded in agreeance. The three returned to watching the show. They got a good few episodes in, and Mark was actually really into it. He didn't even notice when someone sat down next to him.

"So what season is this? I've been a little caught up in _Rick and Morty_." Mark turned around to see Jack smiling at him. It took Mark a second to realize who he was speaking to.

"Um, it's the first season. I've never seen it before so Ryan started it from the beginning." Jack nodded, turning his eyes to the screen. "It's pretty good, but I would suggest _Stranger Things._ We might not be able to use social media in here, but they at least let us stream shows. That one is probably one of my favorites."

Mark drew his knees up to his chest, folding his arms over them. "Yeah, it's kind of nice to just relax and watch something." He turned to Jack, a smile on his face. "Even though this place is strange, and the labs are.. _questionable_ , I know it's for a good cause. Not only that, but our families are safe. Once we get out this will all seem worth it."

Jack smiled back, but there was something off in his eyes. It wasn't the different colors, oddly enough, Mark had gotten used to that fairly quick. Rather, it was the emotion in them. As soon as Mark had mentioned the word _families_ Jack's eyes had glossed over. He didn't cry, instead he just blinked them away. Still, Mark was curious.

"So! Obviously you're in here because you _aren't_ human. Now, just a wild guess, but does your mutation have anything to do with those big and beautiful wings?" Mark chuckled. "Wow! How did you know?!"

"Lucky guess!" Both of them burst out laughing at their silliness. They weren't even watching the show anymore. Mark calmed himself down enough to see Jack still laughing. He liked Jack. Mark could relax around him, even more than he could with Ryan. It's almost like they were meant to be friends. 

Mark frowned as he looked behind Jack to see Felix and PJ chatting by some shelves. They seemed to be in the midst of a debate, evident in their wild hand movements. He turned back to Jack. "Hey, Jack. Does Felix not like me?" Jack narrowed his eyes. "What gave you that impression?"

"Anytime he looks at me his face is in a glare. It's like he wants to burn a hole through me." Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess that can come off as intimidating." Mark rolled his eyes. "You think?"

"Hey! I was trying to be agreeable! Ya bum." He looked back towards Felix. "He doesn't mean to act like that, he's just worried."

"About what?"

"About me!" Jack looked down at his knees. "I'm sure by now Ryan has told you about me and my unofficial "job" as the healer. He always tells newbies." Mark nodded, allowing Jack to continue.

"When there was only four of us, at the waaay beginning, I would only have to heal on one day, which was testing day for everyone. Then I'd be free the rest of the week. Able to be with my peers, my family." He smiled. "I was only seven, so I wanted that time to last."

He frowned. "But a couple years later the facility started bringing in more mutants, doing more experiments. I got pulled away more and more. They would have me eat and sleep in the lab so I was ready to help at any moment. My friends saw less and less of me, and they would get worried. For a while the only time I could see them was during experiments, and we weren't allowed to speak to each other."

 ** _But you did._** Mark heard the girl say in his head. He ignored her and continued to listen to Jack.

"Felix would get snippy with every new mutant. To him, new people meant less time with me. He's like my older brother, so anytime I'm away he freaks out and suspects that they could be hurting me or that I'm starting to break down. It wasn't until Dr. Morrison appeared that I was able to see my friends again. Even if it's for a few times a week, it's a Hell of a lot better than before."

Mark's eyes widened. "Wow, that's, wow." He looked up at nothing in particular. "Yep, I have nothing to say to that." Jack laughed. "It's fine, I'm better now anyway. As much as the experiments suck, you're right. It's for a good cause and we get to see our families once it's all over."

Mark narrowed his eyes. "Once it's all over? I was told there were monthly visits." Jack furrowed his brows. "What? Who told you that?"

"Who the fuck cares who told me that if it's not true?!" Mark was fuming. Jack put his hand on Mark's shoulder. "Okay, dude, everyone else here knew that they wouldn't be able to see their families until they made the cure." Mark grit his teeth. "Since when?"

"Since forever! That's why so few mutants sign up for this. The ones that have did it because they wanted a home, or because they wanted to help their families. There was no promise about-"

"Yes there was!" Mark stood up, clenching his fists. _Why was he getting so mad?_ "Don't fucking lie to me!"

Jack stood up as well, trying to calm Mark down. "I'm not lying to you! I don't know why they would tell you tha-"

 **"Why wouldn't you?! You're already their favorite, so why wouldn't they tell you this?!"** Mark took a step back, his eyes wide. _That wasn't him speaking._ Jack seemed to have realized this as well. "Michelle, leave Mark's body." Mark felt his hands curl into fists as his body was taken over once again. **"Aw, but this is the first time in a long while that I've been in a room with you Seán."** Mark narrowed his eyes. Why did he just call Jack _Seán_?

Ryan and Ian stood up as well, having long since forgotten about the show. "Mark, just ignore her. She feeds off of negative energy and enters people through it. Just focus on something positive." Mark tried to think of his brother, or his mother, but Michelle warped the images in his mind into something gruesome. He shook his head, his breathing getting faster again.

"Mark, calm down." Jack tried to put his hand on Mark's shoulder again. Michelle took over. **"Get your hand off me you traitor!!"** Mark turned and grabbed Jack by the wrist, flapping his wings up and down to gain height. They were only a couple feet up before Jack squeaked and clung onto Mark's arm. **"What's the matter Jack, afraid of heights?"** Michelle made them go even higher. _He didn't want to do this why was she making him do this??_

A familiar blue blur showed up, grabbing Mark by the legs. The force knocked Mark onto his back, and Jack fell out of his death grip. Felix climbed onto Mark's chest, placing both his hands onto his shoulders. "Leave Michelle! You fucking _bitch_!" He then raised a fist to hit Mark.

"Felix!" Jack cried. Felix turned around, giving Michelle enough time to make Mark shove him off. Mark felt awful. He didn't want to hurt anyone, he wasn't even angry anymore! Why was this girl trying to hurt these people?

Mark began to walk forward, Michelle still in total control of his body. He only managed to take a few steps before another voice entered his head.

 ** _Michelle. Leave._** _Ryan_. Michelle spoke again, but only inside Mark's head. **_Why are you siding with him? He's the reason we're still stuck here! Why everything went to shi-_**

 ** _Leave._** And she was gone. Mark collapsed onto his knees, looking up at those around him. Felix was standing in front of Jack protectively. Ryan and Ian were on each side of Mark, prepared to act if needed. Mark looked straight at Jack. "I-I'm sor-"

"Fischbach and McLoughlin!" A man's voice brought everyone's attention to the door into the hall, where two guards and Dr. Morrison were standing. The guard spoke again. "Your time in the common room is over!"

The two guards walked in, one grabbing Jack (Seán?) and the other grabbing Mark. The two were taken into the hall despite Felix and Ryan's protests. The door slid shut behind them. Dr. Morrison sighed. "Jack, I thought this was taken care of." Jack furrowed his brows. "I can fix it! If you just let me talk to her-"

"Out of the question. Henry, take Jack back to the lab." Henry grabbed Jack's arm a little too tightly, causing him to wince. Mark glared at him as he lead Jack down the hall. _Asshole._

Dr. Morrison then walked in the opposite direction, Mark and his guard following close behind. They entered the elevator again. Dr. Morrison pushed a button, and they went up. After a minute the door opened, and they were on another floor. It wasn't the top, Ms. Blackery and her desk were nowhere to be found. Dr. Morrison lead them down another hall. There was only one door at the very and of it. Once they were there Dr. Morrison slid a card into a slot, opening the door. The guard shoved Mark inside, and the door closed behind him.

Mark looked around. There was a large desk in the middle of the room. Sitting in a fancy chair at said-desk, was the Prime Minister. Mark saw a nameplate on the desk that read _Churchlin_.

It was then that Mark realized he hadn't previously known the Prime Minister's name.

"Mark, sit down." Mark did so, confusion evident on his face. "Um, Mr. Prime Mini-"

"Please, call me Mr. Churchlin."

"... _Churchlin_. Why am I here?" Churchlin shook his head as if Mark had asked a dumb question. "Mark, you attacked a fellow patient. _Two_ in fact."

Mark shook his head. "No, there was this girl in my head. She made me do it!" Churchlin narrowed his eyes. "This girl, her name didn't happen to be Michelle, did it?" Mark nodded.

"I'm sorry about her Mark, she is one of the... _difficult_ patients here. She has a habit of harassing newer children like you. I assure you this won't happen again." He moved to hit a button, probably an intercom. Mark decided to ask one last question.

"Mr. Churchlin, will I actually be able to see my family?" Churchlin nodded. "Of course Mark!"

"Will I be able to see them before the cure is completed?" Churchlin's smile faded. "Mark-"

"You promised me, and my brother, that we would see each other once a month."

"Listen-"

"You _promised_. As soon as he gets the chance he's going to take me out of this program. Actually, I might just leave as soon as I get the chance. A bunch of telepathic people just invaded my mind. I didn't sign up for this!!!" Churchlin smiled. "Mark, you're not leaving this facility until I get my cure."

Mark felt his skin pale. "W-what?" Churchlin chuckled, standing up.

"Mark, your the only mutant I've gotten here in the past year. No other family has been willing to give up their mutant children. At first I thought I could just force the patients here to breed, but then I made another discovery; there have been no more mutant births within the last fifteen years."

Mark tensed. "But you said-"

"Unfortunately, it appears that the Y-gene doesn't reproduce. Believe me, we tried. We took DNA from every single mutant in here and combined it in various test tubes. We used perfect conditions, and even artificial wombs for the birthing process. There were no results, and all of the useless offspring had to be terminated."

Mark felt sick. _They made them...._

"Yes, I did lie, but only because I had to. You're helping so many people by staying here, Mark. Even if you have to remain in this facility for the rest of your life, a cure will be made."

Mark stood up and slammed his palms on the desk. "You're _sick!!"_ The door into the office opened up and a guard grabbed Mark by his arms and yanked him away. Churchlin looked at the guard. "Start his next session early, and don't hold back." Mark screamed and kicked, flapping his wings as fast as he could. This place was disgusting, he couldn't stay here. He felt a prick in his neck, and cried out.

Darkness tinged his vision, and his knees went wobbly. Mark then went limp in the guard's arms, slipping into unconsciousness.


	10. -Nine-

_Blood coated his ruffled pink feathers. He didn't even know if it was his._

_His mother and Thomas were nowhere to be found._

_Instead, it was just Mark._

_Just Mark, alone, floating in the never ending void. His family long gone._

_He looked around and faces he didn't recognise stared him down. Guess he wasn't completely alone. They shouted things at him. Half of the things they said he couldn't understand. He was so confused._

_Faces he recognized appeared. Ryan, Felix, Dan and Phil. Even Jack, a glowing green X over one of his eyes. Others he didn't know appeared. A boy with glowing blue eyes, another with the mind of a genius._

_The faces shouted a name that wasn't his as a face appeared among them. A girl with long brown hair and purple tears. She screamed, and everyone around them disappeared. The girl sobbed, and her purple tears enveloped her body, washing her away._

_All that was left was Mark._

_Just Mark._

_There was no fire this time, just a terrifying silence._

** Trigger Warning Gore: look for the next underlined text. **

Mark opened his eyes, tensing at the familiar sight of the lab. Cold water was dripping from his face, and he wondered where the source of it was. That, however, was the least of his worries. This time he wasn't strapped on his back. Instead he was on his stomach, his wings being held up and out by some straps and wires that were connected to the ceiling. His arms and legs were strapped to the table. All he had on was a pair of boxers. In this position Mark couldn't even see what was going on behind him.

He really didn't like it.

The same woman and man from last time were by his side, a bunch of strange new tools on their tray next to the table. Mark could just barely see them out of the corner of his eye. The man(Jim was it?) took something off the tray. Mark couldn't see what it was.

"Alright, so the points have already been marked?"

The female doctor nodded. "Just cut from here," her gloved finger touched the bottom of Mark's spine and trailed all the way up to the top, causing him to shiver. _She was so cold_. "To here." Jim nodded, and Mark felt a somehow even _colder_ blade touch the base of his spine.

He remembered the word she used.

 _Cut_.

The blade pushed into the skin. Mark cried out and tried to pull away, only to find that he couldn't. The restraints were too strong. As the blade moved upward and cut along his spine, he shrieked. _It really fucking hurt._

Once the blade reached the top of his back and left his skin, Mark sighed in relief. _Finally_. The pain was dull now, but still there. At least it was over.

His victory was short lived. As soon as the blade left, it came back again, slicing horizontally this time. Mark bit his lip to hold back his screams as tears slid down his face. After they were done slicing, he felt the skin to his back get pulled and pinned, exposing this inside of his body to the air.

_Dissected. He was being fucking dissected._

A long, pointy tool prodded at the muscle tissue in Mark's back, causing him to whimper. The female doctor spoke. "His tissue is much stronger than that of a bird, which makes sense, given the fact it supports a human body. But that would also make him very heavy. How does he fly?"

There was a moment of silence. And then two fingers slid into the muscle tissue. Mark jerked forward. _He's going to puke get out get out get OUT_. The two fingers moved around his insides, trailing along muscles. Mark shuddered, shrieking as the two fingers started to delve through the muscle, going deeper into his body. He couldn't stop himself as he puked over the edge of the table, hiccuping between sobs.

The fingers finally stopped after hitting something hard and solid. They tapped against it, causing Mark to vomit over himself again. "Ah." The woman spoke. "The bones are hollow, so he should be balanced out between that and the thicker muscle tissue."

Jim spoke up next. "What about the bones in his wings? Do you think they're hollow as well?"

"Only one way to find out."

 _Nononononono_ -

The fingers were removed from Mark's back. He shuddered.

The door into the lab opened up. In walked a guard and Jack. Jack's eyes zeroed in on Mark's exposed back, and he stopped for a moment to stare in horror. The guard shoved him forward. "Move." Jack did so, his eyes never meeting Mark's. They moved over to stand a few feet away from the door, still in Mark's view.

Mark felt something trace along his wings, and he paled. They were marking off more points to cut from. "Hey, Karen-"

"I told you not to call me by my first name."

"... _Hansen_. Shouldn't we stitch up the back? He could still pass out from shock. That, or he'll get sick again from having both his back and wings cut open." _Please God yes close this fucking hole in his back._ There was silence for a moment.

** Trigger Warning End: Continue below. **

"Seán, get over here." Jack look startled for a second, but came forward anyway, scratching at his wrist. Mark looked up at him from the table, vomit still dripping from his chin. Jack refused to look back.

"Heal his back. I'll unpin his skin and place it back over the exposed tissue. You can heal him without us having to use stitches, right?"

Jack looked down. "Yeah.."

"Good." Mark felt the pins get removed from his skin. The doctors then placed it back over the exposed muscle. Jack walked behind Mark, out of his view. Mark felt his hands on his back, warm. They traced over the cuts slowly, and Mark felt the pain fade as Jack moved his hands around. Within a few seconds, his back was completely healed. No pain.

Hansen spoke again. "Alright, Jack, stand back." The blade touched Mark's right wing, causing him to tense. "He might lash out."

"Can't you just send him back to his room? He looks exhausted." Jack's voice was small and timid, contrasting greatly to how he was in the common room.

The blade was removed from Mark's wing, but he didn't allow himself to relax. Hansen spoke in a scolding manner, as if talking to a child. "He's going to be fine. Stand back and just be ready to heal him." Mark braced himself as the blade returned to his wing.

"No."

The blade was taken away again. "Excuse me?" Hansen sounded pissed. Jack spoke up again, louder. "No, you can't continue testing on him like this. It's only his second time in the lab."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just try to order me around." The blade was returned to Mark's wing and cut a feather.

"STOP!" There was a scuffle heard, and the blade left his wing. The sound of metal hitting the floor seemed to echo around the lab.

"Did you just _shove_ me?" Hansen's voice rose in pitch.

"You were going to _dissect his wings._ What if I can't heal whatever you do to him and he loses his ability to fly?!"

Mark tensed. _He could lose his ability to fly?!_

Hansen lowered her voice, sounding menacing. "You healed Kjellberg's legs just fine."

Jim tried to butt in. "Let's just continue, the guard can restrain him-"

"Zip it. Seán, I've told you before to stop meddling with my patients."

"Patients? You can only call them patients if you're a doctor that _helps_ them. All you do is hurt!"

"Seán William McLoughlin. You know what we're doing is helping them."

Her voice was shaky. It surprised Mark, she seemed so cold and unfeeling before.

Jack spoke lowly. "You mean helping yourself."

**SMACK**

There was silence for a moment. The air in the room was thick with so much tension it was suffocating. Mark couldn't see at all what was going on behind him, but he could tell that Hansen had hit Jack. He didn't even know how to respond.

Finally, Hansen spoke.

"Take Fischbach out. We're going to move McLoughlin's testing day to now."

The straps on Mark's wings were released. Then his arms and legs. Mark wiped the remaining vomit from his chin and pushed himself onto his rear, turning behind to look at the others. Hansen's lips were set in a firm line, her expression tense and negative. Jim just looked afraid. As for Jack, his eyes were watery, and a large red mark was on his left cheek. Despite that, he smiled at Mark. "That guard is going to take you back."

For a second Mark wanted to smile and thank him, but then he remembered what Hansen had said. Jack could heal, so what kind of tests would they put him through?

**_Horrible ones._ **

Michelle's voice rang through Mark's head again. What was _she_ doing back? The guard grabbed Mark's arms, pulling him off from the table and onto his feet. "Let's go, you don't know how lucky you have it kid." Mark glanced worriedly at Jack as he got on the table.

 ** _You idiot! What are you doing?!_** Her voice was louder this time. Mark felt the familiar pounding in his head as they forced Jack onto his back. She was taking over.

Hansen placed her hand on Jack's neck, placing the blade right against his jugular. "We're going to see if you can recover your voice this time."

 ** _"NO!!"_** Mark flew up, taking the guard with him. The guard didn't have time to react as Mark barreled towards the ground, body slamming him. He was out cold. Mark looked back at the doctors, a crazed look in his eye.

Michelle had taken over.

Hansen looked over to Jim. "Call in help." Jim nodded, his eyes focused on Mark as he took out a phone. Jack tried to sit up, only for Hansen to shove him back down. His head hit the board hard.

 ** _"Get your hands off of him you cunt."_** Mark was confused. Michelle was trying to take Jack out earlier. What was happening?

The corners of Hansen's lips curved up. "Ah, so it is you Michelle. Only you would speak to me like that. I thought you hated Seán."

 ** _"Don't use his name."_** Hansen chuckled. "Guess I was wrong. Still, you can't inhabit Fischbach's body for long. Now leave, you're just delaying the inevitable."

Mark walked forward. He wasn't even fighting Michelle at this point. He was only focused on stopping Hansen from hurting Jack.

Hansen glared hard at them, pushing the blade into Jack's neck. Blood started to drip. Mark instantly grew afraid, but Michelle stayed calm. **_We just can't let her push it into his vocal chords. He couldn't cure blindness, I doubt he could recover his voice._** Mark was confused as to what she was talking about, but listened anyway.

 ** _"Move the blade. Last warning."_** Hansen sighed, moving it away from Jack's neck.

Only to plunge it in a second later.

Mark screamed. Whether it was Michelle or himself, he wasn't sure. He charged forward, wrapping his hands around Hansen's throat. He flew into the air and slammed her body into the floor. There was a sickening crack, and she went limp.

 _Holy shit, we just killed her!_ Mark thought. **_She deserved it._** Michelle sounded calm and cold. Mark turned his head to see Jack spewing blood, the knife still in his throat.

 _Shit!_ Mark yanked the blade out, and blood ran from the wound. Jack was coughing and sputtering. _He's going to die!_

 ** _No he's not, but that's not why I'm worried._** Mark watched as the knife wound healed, and Jack stopped coughing up blood. He looked straight up at Mark.

 ** _"Jack? It's Michelle. Say something."_** Jack opened his mouth to speak, even moving his lips to form words, but no sound came out.

There was nothing but a raspy exhale coming from him.

 ** _"No, no this can't be like your eye, NO!"_** Michelle started to panic, losing control over Mark. Mark stared at Jack, confused. "What's going on?" He asked. Jack tried to speak, but the closest he got was a squeak.

**_He lost his voice._ **

A shock ran through Mark's body, stemming from his lower back. Crying out, he fell forward. The pain went from excruciating to non-existent as his eyelids closed. One thought stayed in his head, though he wasn't sure if it was his own.

**_This is my fault._ **


	11. -Ten-

Mark woke up back in his room, his body sore all over. Michelle really knew how to push his limits. Slowly, he maneuvered himself into a sitting position. It hurt, but it was bearable. Looking down, he realized he was still only in his boxers. Without any extra clothing he could easily see all of the bruises lining his body. They were mostly around his shoulders and sides. Not surprising since it _was_ his first time body slamming two people.

_And killing one._

Mark shivered. That doctor was awful, but did she really deserve to die?

_**Yes.** _

“You again?!” Mark glared at the ceiling. He knew the voice was coming from in his head now, but he still wanted something to look at when he spoke.

 ** _Yes, who else would it be?_** Mark rolled his eyes. “That's not the point, what the heck were you doing back there?!” _**I was saving Seán, something you are incapable of doing yourself.**_

Mark narrowed his eyes. “Why are you calling him that? Isn't his name Jack?”

**_Are you dense? He's Irish, and over there the nickname for Seán is Jack._ **

Mark folded his arms. _She didn't have to be so mean about it._ “Okay, so his nickname is Jack. That still doesn't explain anything. Why did you save him after trying to hurt him earlier? And why did you take over _me_ to do it?”

Michelle's voice was snarky. _**None of your business why I did it. I used you specifically because you're the easiest person to control out of them all. Probably because of how naive you are.**_

“Okay!” Mark got off the bed and stood. “Get out of my head.”

_**No.** _

“You don't have a right to be there! It's an invasion of privacy and you only do harm every time you get in!”

**_I'm not going to leave, not until I know who you are._ **

“You already do! My name is Mark Fischbach and you need to leave my head _Michelle_.” Michelle chuckled inside his head. **_I know your name, but you're hiding something. One of your memories. It's emitting negative energy. You did something bad. And I'm not going to leave you alone until I find out what it is._**

Mark curled his wings around himself. “I'm not hiding anything.”

**_Liar._ **

“You're no better! You keep taking over me and doing all these horrible things without giving a reason _why!_ I _killed_ someone because of you!!” Mark's eyes went cloudy as the realization hit him again. _He took someone else's life._ He wanted to tell himself it was just Michelle's doing.

But if he was being completely honest, he didn't try to stop her.

 ** _You and I both know she deserved it. Especially after what she did to him, to all of us._** Mark was silent for a moment. He wasn't agreeing with her, but he wasn't denying it either.

“I'm tired.”

**_You've been out for almost two hours._ **

“Before that I was dissected, rammed my body into two different people, and stun-gunned. So I repeat, _I am tired_.” Mark walked back over to the bed and climbed in, covering his entire frame with the blanket. He clenched his eyes shut, falling asleep moments later.

……………

_Burning._

_She was crying. He was screaming. Blood was everywhere. It was awful._

_It was dark in the distance. Mark squinted his eyes._

_It was getting closer._

_Mark felt the darkness surrounding him. His heart rate picked up as his breathing became uneven. Not now!_

_A face appeared in the darkness. Mark felt tears stream down his face as he realized who it was._

_His dad._

_His lips were blue, and his eyes were bulging out of their sockets. The Plague. He looked so-_

_Different._

_Mark narrowed his eyes. It looked like his dad, but not quite. It wasn’t because of the Plague, Mark remembered all of those side effects. Instead it was how he actually looked. It's like someone took bits and pieces of him, not knowing what he actually truly looked like. Mark felt his panic cease, anger replacing it._

_“Michelle!!!”_

_The thing that looked like his dad disappeared, a girl replacing him. She stepped forward. Her face was completely shrouded in darkness, making it impossible to see any features. Her voice however was completely recognizable._

**_“I guess you're not a complete idiot. Still, that doesn't mean I can just ignore what I saw. This,”_ ** _She gestured to the darkness around them both._ **_“Is far too suspicious to be nothing.”_ **

_Mark clenched his hands into fists. “You're the reason my nightmares have been getting more vivid! You're trying to invade my memories!” He spread his wings out, glaring hard at the faceless girl. “Well, you're not getting them!” He shot into the dark air, flying high and away from Michelle._

_Darkness surrounded him. He squinted. “It would be great to see right now.”_

_Almost instantly his body was illuminated in a soft pink glow. He stopped flying for a second, startled. Well, this was his dream. A ball of purple flames zoomed past him, barely brushing one of his feathers. Mark spun around to see Michelle flying up towards him._

_**“Huh, most people don't realize how much power they have in their dreams. Still, you're not going to stop me from finding out what happened.”** _ _Michelle took her hand and produced another ball of purple flames. She fist-pumped the air, sending the flames straight towards Mark._

_Mark flew to the side, dodging the flames just in time. Michelle's powers were only mental, so she was using the dream to her advantage and conjuring up abilities she didn't possess. Since this was Mark's head he should be able to do it too. He took a deep breath, picturing exactly what he needed and held out his palm. A large pink shield manifested itself in his hand._

_Michelle sent a barrage of purple flame balls his way. Mark held the shield up, stopping every single one. He looked over the shield to see what Michelle had planned next._

_She was standing still, her hands planted firmly on her hips. Michelle chuckled, her voice echoing all around._ _**“I keep underestimating you. I can promise you it won't happen again.”** _ _She raised one hand in the air, and a figure emerged from the darkness. Red and blue light surrounded it, making itself more recognizable._

_Mark's eyes widened when he saw that the figure was himself, or rather, a twisted version of himself. The not-him had black wings and black eyes. They contrasted greatly with his pale white skin. There was no trace of a smile on his face, only a deep scowl. Michelle saw Mark's horrified face and laughed._ _**“I call him Dark. All of your past mistakes and wrongdoings manifested into one being. So much dark energy in him. You've done some awful things Fischbach.”** _ _She snapped her fingers, and Dark flew straight towards Mark._

_Mark held the shield up, hoping it would soften the blow. It did nothing as Dark barreled into him at full speed, pushing the shield into his body. Mark cried out and the shield disappeared. Dark then grabbed Mark by his left wing and spun him around before letting go, sending him spiraling into the darkness. A brick wall manifested itself right in front of Mark. Before he could react his body hit it, sending waves of pain through his body. Groaning, Mark slid down the wall and onto the floor._

_When did a floor manifest? Mark pushed himself up and glanced around, seeing himself in a room. Not just any room, the lab. Mark quickly stood up, glancing around. There was no one around besides himself. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone else was there…_

_A force knocked into Mark from behind, sending him into the wall. He pushed himself onto his knees and looked behind. Dark was standing a few feet away. Mark stood up on shaky legs and glared at him. “I don't care how much you knock me around, I'm not telling you anything!” Dark cocked his head to the side. Although his mouth stayed in a firm line, Michelle's voice filled the room._

_**“You think you're so tough.”** _ _Dark strode forward and grabbed Mark by his hair, yanking him down onto the floor. Dark then placed a foot on his back, kneeling down over him._

_**“You.”** _ _He pulled Mark’s head back and slammed it into the floor._

_**“Are.”** _ _He did it again. Mark felt the floor beginning to crack. How much force was Dark using?_

_**“Weak.”** _ _Dark slammed Mark's head through the floor._

_The entire floor gave way as Mark's body fell. He tried to use his wings to fly, but as soon as he raised them he had hit the ground. Mark looked up, seeing himself in another room. His old apartment. Thomas was sitting on the windowsill, his legs hanging out in the open air. Mark walked forward, noticing that their mother was nowhere in the room._

_“Thomas?” Mark's voice was quiet. He knew this wasn't real, but he was still unsure as to which memory this was. Thomas turned behind to look at Mark with bloodshot eyes. “Mark! Whassup little bro?” His speech was slurred. Mark noticed the numerous bottles next to the window. Thomas started giggling._

_“It's so funny, Mom gets sick after helping you.” Mark felt his stomach drop. This was after…_

_Thomas looked at Mark. “You know I'm going to have to get another job to pay for both of your medical bills, right? And with this fucked up economy..” He laughed dryly. “You basically just killed us Mark.”_

_Mark shook his head. “Th-this isn't how it happened.”_

_Thomas looked back at Mark. “It's your fault she's going to die.”_

_Mark shook his head as tears pricked his eyes. “N-no…” He stomped his foot. “I-I don't remember this! It never happened!”_

_“Oh? Or maybe you just suppressed it?” Thomas smirked. “There's one part you do remember.” He looked back out the window and leaned forward._

_And fell._

_“NO!” Mark shrieked as he bolted to the window. Without a second thought he jumped out after Thomas._

_Mark pulled his wings close to his body so he could fall faster. He reached out a hand towards Thomas. Just another inch. A pair of hands grabbed him by the ankles, stopping him from going down any further. “LET ME GO!” Mark looked up to see Dark glaring down at him._

_He looked back down in time to see Thomas hit the pavement._

Mark sat back up in bed, sweat drenching his covers. He didn't waste a second as he ran into the bathroom and threw up, the image of his brother's bloody body still fresh in his head. He had already thrown up all of the food he had eaten previously, now it was just stomach acid and gagging. After he had gotten it all out of his system, Mark stood, walking back into the bedroom. He wrapped his wings around himself and sat on the bed, willing himself to forget the image.

 ** _Wow, that, wasn't what I was expecting._** Mark glared at the ceiling. “Why would you make me see that? He didn't even die! I saved him before he could fall.” Mark glanced back down at the bed. “Why did he die?”

**_Look, my ability isn't to show the bright side of things. If you want that go to Ryan or Phil. I influence you negatively. I'm only able to do so by taking your surface memories and twisting them. When that happens I'm able to see into other memories. I keep doing this until I'm at the core of all your negative energy, then I assess whether or not I can trust you. You however, have hidden this dark core so deep, that I can't access it like normal. Only people who have done something awful do that._ **

Mark felt tears sting his eyes. “B-but Thomas, he didn't say all of those things, and he didn't die. S-so why would you…” His tears fell freely down his face. Michelle was silent for a moment.

**_You have a large core of dark energy, Mark. I already have enough to worry about with the crooked people running this hellhole, I can't have mysterious newbies hurting the people I care about too._ **

“You can't do that, tell me that I can't hide secrets when you have a million of them yourself! You say you care about these people right after trying to hurt them, and don’t give a single explanation? What gives you the right to fuck with my mind and peel back my memories when you are hiding everything about yourself?!” Mark's voice broke a little, and he stared down at his feet.

Michelle sighed. **_Alright, how about we do a trade. I'll show you why I'm me, if you show me the memory I need to see._** Mark bit his lip, thinking it over.

“You promise?”

**_Yeah._ **

“You won't back out.”

**_No._ **

Mark took a deep breath. “O-okay.” **_Great, just, relax, and don't fight what I'm doing, no matter how much it hurts._** Mark nodded, his eyes still burning with tears. The room around him was engulfed in darkness as Michelle rummaged through his mind.

**_Let's see what you're hiding Fischbach._ **


	12. -Eleven-

_**Let's see what you're hiding Fischbach.** _

_Everything hurt._

Mark's eyes shot open. He looked around his bedroom, fear evident in his face. He had no idea what he had been dreaming about, but he knew that whatever it was, it was awful. He glanced at his bedside alarm clock. _7:30_. He should probably get ready, work was going to start in a half hour.

Mark got out of bed, hastily throwing on his uniform. A savory aroma filled the air as he walked downstairs. _Bacon_. He smiled at his mother and older brother as he entered the kitchen.

“Morning Markimoo, how'd you sleep?” Thomas was already halfway through his breakfast. Eggs, toast, and the heavenly bacon, complete with a glass of orange juice. It was odd, their mother usually gave them half of what was now on their plates. What was she planning? Mark sat in a chair opposite of Thomas, beaming as his mother placed a plate holding the same delicacies in front of him. “Eat up, I know that boss of yours has been making you work past lunch.” Mark shrugged. “I don't mind it, I get a little extra money anyways.”

Their mother smirked. “You won't have to worry about money soon.” Mark's eyes widened. “You mean-”

“Yep! I got the promotion!” The two boys cheered. Their mom had been working late hours at a nail salon for the past few months. She'd come home at three in the morning, sleep for a few hours, and then wake up to make breakfast for her family. It was hard, but _literally_ paid off. Not only did she not have to work nights anymore, the promotion also came with a _huge_ raise. Enough so that maybe Mark could actually go to college.

His dreams were crushed before when his mother told him that there was only enough money for Thomas to keep attending. Still, he was happy for his older brother. Thomas worked hard. He already had a year done and was hoping to take a summer session and get his degree in a total of three years. It would be tough, but save the family a ton of money.

Thomas stood, carrying his now-empty-plate to the sink. He hugged his mom. “I need to start my commute. I'll see you at lunch, okay?” She nodded. “Have fun at class sweetie.” Thomas walked by Mark, ruffling up his hair as he passed. “Tell your boss you're coming to lunch today.” Mark almost choked on his bacon. Thomas chuckled as he walked out the door. “Not taking no for an answer!” With that, he left.

After Mark had stopped choking he glanced at the clock on the stove. _7:45_. He needed to leave soon. Last time he was late his boss refused to pay him for the day. He inhaled the last bit of food on his plate and placed his dishes in the sink. “Thanks mom!” He gave a quick wave before walking out the door, shutting it behind him.

The Fischbachs lived in a small suburban home in Ohio. They had moved there from their old house a few years back, around the time Mark had entered his Sophomore year of highschool. He didn't want to reflect on _why_ they had to move, so he looked up at the sky instead.

It was sunny out. The light reflected off of Mark's wings, giving them a soft glow. He stretched them out, smirking. Without a second thought he took off into the sky, flying over other houses and cars. The department store came into view and he landed right outside it. He walked inside the doors, waving to his boss. “Morning Mr. Donovan.” Mr. Donovan scowled. “You were almost late. Don't let me catch that happening again!” He went back to counting dollars from the cash register.

Mark shrugged, walking to his section in the back room of the store. Once inside he flew up to a shelf, picking up one of the boxes and moving it down to the bottom. Since his mutation was physical, Mr. Donovan made him work as far away from the front as he possibly could. Mark didn't really mind, it meant he wouldn't have to hear all of the slurs from the clients.

“Look at the flying fag!”

Spoke too soon.

Mark tucked his wings around himself as he heard people approach. They stopped right behind him. Mark turned around, his hands shaking a little. Two men and one woman stood in front of him. The woman, a thirty-something year old named Janice, sneered. “What kind of god would allow things like _you_ to walk among us?” Mark shrunk a little at the comment, letting his eyes focus on the floor.

When he first got the job his Sophomore year he tried to talk back and defend himself. After a while though he learned it was better to stay silent. No matter what.

Janice narrowed her eyes. “We need that box of blue polo shirts for the men's section. Think you can grab it for us?” Mark nodded, and spread out his wings to fly up and get it. A hand grabbed the end of his left wing, yanking him down. Mark cried out as he was forced onto his stomach. Someone's foot was on his head, forcing the side of his face against the concrete floor. Mark tried to free himself by moving his wings, only for another foot to stomp on his back, right at the base of them. Mark inhaled sharply, trying not to move and risk breaking something again.

One of the men, Marcus, nineteen, spoke. “Aw, you used to fight this before. Now it's boring.” The foot pushed harder against Mark's head. “Maybe we can make it more interesting.”

“Fuck, the boss is coming.” Adam, twenty-ish, warned the others. Marcus groaned and removed his foot from Mark's head. Before leaving, he bent down to whisper in Mark's ear.

“You know the drill, mutie. Say anything, and you're fucking _dead_.” Marcus got back up and walked away with the others.

The trio exited the room, taking a door on the far right. Mr. Donovan entered from a door on the far left. Mark had just gotten back on his feet when he walked in. “Mark! I need you to work lunch again. Marcus has been slacking off and you're the only one that can cover him.”

Mark rubbed the back of his head. “Actually, Mr. Donovan, I was hoping to take lunch and go see my family for a second before heading back to the store.” Mr. Donovan shook his head. “No can do.” Mark bit his cheek. He knew he would say that. “O-okay.” He turned to go back to shelving boxes.

“Why is there a footprint on your back?”

Mark paled. _Shit_. He turned around, forcing a smile. “I was looking for it this morning and didn't see it was on the floor, so I stepped on it.” Mr. Donovan narrowed his eyes. It took a second for his face to light up in realization. He gave Mark a cautious look.

“Er, Mark, why don't you take the day off?”

Mark's eyes widened in horror. “ _No!_ I'm fine! Really! I don't need a day off!” He _couldn't_ get a day off. Even with the promotion, they _needed_ this money.

Mr. Donovan put both his hands up in the air. “Hey, if it's about money, I'll pay you for the day. Just, go home.” Mark raised an eyebrow. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, just take it easy, okay? Your dad told me to look out for you.” Mark's eyes clouded a little at the mention of his father, but he blinked it away, shaking his head. “But nothing happened to me, I swear!”

Mr. Donovan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mark, I can make sure it doesn't happen again, you just need to tell me for sure who did it.”

Mark stayed silent. It was the first time he had heard those words in a long time. Marcus’s threat echoed in the back of his head as he tucked his wings further behind himself.

“Marcus, Janice, and Adam.”

Mr. Donovan sighed. “That's all you had to say. Now I want you to head home and come back ready to work tomorrow. I'll take care of this.” He turned to leave, stopping when he saw Mark standing still.

“Get out before I change my mind.” Mark rushed past him towards the back door. The store was open now, and he wasn't supposed to go out the front during open hours. He slipped outside, looking up at the sky. Still sunny. He spread out his wings and took off towards home.

Why did he not feel as reassured as he thought he should?

…………

Mark walked in through the front doors of his work, ten minutes early. Mr. Donovan was once again counting dollars. “Morning Fischbach.” Not the usual threat to dock his pay. Mark frowned a little. It was nice to not get yelled at first thing, but it made him feel fragile for his boss to act nicer to him. Mark waved back, walking towards his station.

Once he got there he started to move the different boxes around, grabbing things for his co-workers, shelving items that had just arrived. He didn't see Marcus, Adam, or Janice the entire time. Mr. Donovan was true to his word.

Lunchtime came around, and Mr. Donovan poked his head in to tell Mark he could start heading to his house to eat there. Mark thanked him again before exiting through the back door. It was sunny, and very hot. Mark decided to just walk today.

People rolled their eyes and scoffed as he made his way through the streets. Usually he would fly to avoid all of them, but it was ungodly hot today. It took less effort to walk than it did to fly, so that would be his best option. Mark stopped before a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change.

An eerie feeling settled in his stomach, and he turned to look behind himself. No one was there. Still, something seemed off. The light turned on, causing Mark to snap out of his thoughts and keep going.

It was probably nothing.

…………

“Tell your mother I said hi.” Mr. Donovan called out to Mark as he was once again counting dollars. Mark smiled. “I'll be sure to.” He then walked out of the store and into the night air. It was slightly cooler now, but still too hot to fly. Whatever. No one was out this late to curse Mark's existence anyway. Humming, he began his commute to home through the streets.

There weren't many cars out, so Mark was able to slip through the crosswalks with little to no stops. He was making good time, he might be able to get home before Thomas got back from his classes. His humming got louder, turning into full out singing.

Mark's been told he has a very beautiful voice. He didn't really think so, but that didn't stop him from singing a little every now and then.

 _“Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream…”_ His mother used to sing it to him when he was little. One of his favorite songs, despite it being over-played. _“Make him the cutest that I've ever seen.”_ He turned a corner. _“Give him two lips like roses and clovers-”_

“Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over!” Mark froze. _He didn't sing that part._ Slowly, he turned to look behind him. A figure was standing a few feet away.

He didn't have to think very long to know who it was.

Marcus walked up, twirling something in his hand. “Huh, odd, I never took Don for a mutie lover. Guess he was, if he _fired_ _us_ for one.”

 _He fired them?_ Mark took a step back, feeling his wings hit something. He looked up, seeing Adam. He towered over Mark. _Curse his shortness._

Marcus spoke again. “You know, we have been working at that run down store for years. Janice actually got drunk and drove off right after Don let us go.” Adam's arms wrapped around Mark from behind. Mark tried to use his wings, but they were smashed against Adam's chest. He watched in terror as Marcus came closer.

“She crashed. She's dead.” He placed the knife against the side of Mark's face.

“I didn't tell him to fire you! I didn't want Janice to die!” Marcus chuckled. “You fucking told him it was us, don't act fucking innocent.” He took the knife and plunged it into Mark's thigh.

Mark shrieked. The blade was twisted, causing him to cry out even louder. Marcus yanked it out, earning another scream. Mark slouched forward, his legs shaking. He looked up, seeing Marcus grinning. “What's wrong? Did it hurt?” He took the blade and wiped the blood off on Mark's cheek. It was warm and sticky. It made him sick.

Marcus grabbed Mark’s hair and yanked his head up, leaning in towards his ear. His breath was hot. “Filthy mutants _deserve_ this.” Marcus yanked down, slamming Mark's face into his knee.

Black spots danced along his vision as copper filled his mouth. Marcus said something to Adam, but it sounded far away. All of his senses were jumbled. He closed his eyes, then opened them again.

Panic flooded his brain as he saw that he was on the sidewalk, alone. It was dark still, but Mark had no idea how long he had been out. Slowly, he pushed himself up. Waves of pain washed over him. His head ached, his jaw was sore, his leg was numb.

 _His leg._ Mark looked down at his thigh, paling at the large dark stain on his jeans. _He had to get help._ Mark started moving towards home, dragging his leg as he went.

He was so tired. And _hot_. Mark wiped some sweat from his forehead. He must be getting a fever. He narrowed his eyes at a light in the distance, right where his house should be.

His eyes widened when he realized the light was fire.

Mark ignored the pain in his leg as he sprinted. His house was most definitely on fire. He stopped at his lawn, staring at the smoke.

 _No_. Mark ran up the steps, opening the door. It was unlocked. He looked around, using his wings to shield himself from flames and smoke. Some of their belongings had already suffered too much damage to be salvageable. That didn't matter to Mark. He ran up the splintering staircase to his mother's room.

Her door was wide open and she was on the floor, still and lifeless.

 _“Mom!”_ Mark ran over to her. He checked for a pulse, sighing when he found one. It was faint, but there. Carefully, he lifted her up in his arms. There was a large bruise on the side of her face.

It wasn't often that Mark would become truly angry at someone. The purplish blemish on her face seemed to trigger something in him. Mark walked out of the bedroom, starting down the staircase.

He only got a few steps down before the wood gave way under him. Out of shock he let go of his mother. He watched in horror as her body fell down the rest of the staircase.

He didn't have time to do anything else as the ceiling also gave away.

………..

 _hurt_...

He was lying in a hospital bed. His knee was bandaged, and there were various tubes running through his body. A nurse walked in. Her eyes widened, and she ran out of the room. A few seconds later Thomas ran in and wrapped his arms around Mark.

Mark could only think about their mother.

………

 _hurt_ ….

Mark sat at his mother's bedside. She had awoken a while ago and was now resting. Mark squeezed her hand as he watched Thomas talk to a doctor outside of the room. He claimed it was just some recommendations for pain medications.

But Mark wasn't stupid.

The house was gone, along with most of their possessions. Mark had told police officers about who he thought had done it, who he knew had done it. But they weren't going to do anything. They never did.

Not only that, but his mother wasn't getting better anytime soon. She had inhaled too much smoke. She was sick. Really sick. They would just worry about keeping her in the hospital, but they couldn't afford to keep her in there any longer. They lost everything in that fire. They had nothing.

All because Mark couldn't keep his mouth shut.

Something wet dribbled off of Mark's cheeks. _Tears_. He buried his face into the thin hospital sheets and sobbed.

………..

 _hurt_ ….

Thomas left college in favor of a job. Mark told him not to, but they didn't really have a choice. Besides, with the money left over they were able to buy an apartment. They could finally leave the hospital.

Mark didn't want to take their mother away from there.

But they didn't really have a choice.

………

 _hurt_ ….

It was small, but they didn't really own much anyway. Thomas was able to use the remaining cash to buy some food, medicine, clothes, blankets, pillows, and a mattress. Mark frowned. “This is really far from my work..”

“Mark, I told Mr. Donovan you quit.”

 _“What?!”_ Mark gawked at him. Thomas sighed. “I need you to take care of mom. If something happened and neither of us were here..”

Mark didn't want to think about it. “O-okay.” Thomas smiled, hugging his little brother. “I love you. Let's go get mom.”

Mark didn't say anything back.

………

 _hurt_ ….

Thomas handed Mark a big leather jacket. “For your wings. The people around here are nastier towards mutants than the people back home.”

 _That's saying something._ Mark pulled it on, tucking his wings underneath. They were cramped, but he forced a smile for Thomas. “I like it, thank you.” Thomas beamed. “That's great! Be careful with the zipper, it gets stuck easily.”

There was some coughing. Thomas grabbed some medicine off the kitchen counter and ran over to their mom on the mattress. Mark knelt down beside him.

_She looked so sick._

_She was in pain._

_She is in pain._

_She's hurting._

_You hurt her._

_I hurt her._

_I hurt her._

_I hurt her I hurt her I hurt her I hurt her I hurt her I hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt -_

_**MARK.** _

Mark sat up in his bed. The memory was over. He was back.

But that didn't change anything.

He _hurt_ her. _It's his fault_. He trembled, pulling his knees up to his chest.

And then he cried.

He cried, and cried, and cried. Mark cried for what seemed like hours.

And then Michelle spoke.

_**You're, not a bad person, Mark. You really aren't.** _

“M-my mom's sick because of me. She could be _dying_ because of me.”

**_Anything that happened was a product of this fucked up world. I've met horrible people. You're not one of them._ **

There was some silence, Mark's sniffling the only sound in the room.

 _ **I guess I have to keep my promise now, huh?**_ The room around Mark faded away, replaced by darkness. A small voice spoke up, a little boy.

_“Minx?”_


	13. -Twelve-

“Minx!”

Minx shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. Before her stood a small boy, no older than nine. His big blue eyes were wide with curiosity. “Are you okay? You spaced out for a second.”

Minx nodded. “I'm fine Jack, continue.” Jack beamed, going on about some game he had invented. Minx smiled as she listened. Ever since the facility was put under new management, she's felt so alone. Ryan used to be a close friend, but the two weren't speaking at the moment. Jack was the only one she had.

“-and then you have to do a backflip! It's awesome!” Minx snickered. “Can you even do a backflip?” Jack scoffed. “Of course I can! Watch.” He stepped back and put his arms out, taking a deep breath.

Minx’s eyes widened. “Wait-” Her words were ignored as Jack threw himself back, kicking his legs up. There was a large amount of force in it, so much in fact that he was able to slam his arm hard enough to create a sickening crack. 

“Jack!” Minx ran over and helped him sit up. Jack started giggling. “Whoops!” Minx stared at his crooked arm. “Should we get Dr. Hansen?” Jack shook his head. “I just need to set it, it'll heal in a minute!” Minx chuckled, shaking her head.

“I'm still not used to that. Doesn't it hurt?” Jack stuck his lip out as if he were deep in thought. “Kinda? I've done it a bunch so I'm used to it now. It's like a numb feeling.” Minx grinned. “Can you feel this?” She pinched Jack's right side, earning a small squeak. “Stop! That tickles!” A devilish look flashed across Minx’s face as she mercilessly tickled the small Irish boy.

“S-Stop!” Jack cried out between giggles. Minx laughed. “Never!”

“Ahem.” Both children froze at the sight of a tall woman before them. Both of the children smiled up at her. “Morning Dr. Hansen!” Dr. Hansen smiled back. “Morning, I see you broke your arm again Jack.” Jack chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, but I moved the bones back into place. They're healing now!” He moved his arm up, showing that it was almost completely healed.

Dr. Hansen marveled at him. “Such an amazing ability… Oh! I have someone to introduce you both two.” Minx raised an eyebrow while Jack practically bounced in place. 

Dr. Hansen turned to the door she had just came from. “Felix, you can come in now.” A couple seconds passed before a blonde boy walked in. He looked around the same height and age as Jack.

“Michelle, Jack, I would like you to meet Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg. He is another mutant whose parents volunteered for the project. I was hoping you two could show him some fun while I go back to work.” The duo nodded. 

“Great, I will see you all at dinner.” With that she left. Felix stared at the two children before him. They stared back.

Jack decided to break the silence. “So what's your ability?” Felix smirked. “I'm fast.” Minx rolled her eyes. “How fast?”

“ _Really_ fast.”

Minx placed a hand on her hip. “Prove it.” Jack smiled. “Yeah!” Felix smirked as he got into a running position. He took off so fast the others could only see him as a blue blur. He ran around the room and up the side of the walls, stopping right behind the duo.

Minx raised an eyebrow. “I guess you're fast.” Jack gawked at her. “Are you kidding? He's the fastest person in the world!”

Felix put on a smug grin. “That I am!” He looked the other two over. “What can you do?” 

Minx shrunk back a little, not one to show off her power. Jack, however, was awaiting this moment. “Watch this!” He raised his own hand to his mouth and bit. _Hard_. Enough so that blood was dripping.

Felix stepped back. “What the heck? Stop that!” Jack pulled his hand away, smiling through the little bit of blood on his lips. “Watch.” Felix glanced down at his hand. The bite healed quickly before his eyes. There wasn't even a scar.

Felix’s eyes widened. “Whoa!” He reached out and grabbed Jack's hand, inspecting it. “It's like it never happened!”

Jack smirked. “I can heal other people too! That's how they found out about me and took me here!” Felix somehow looked even more amazed. “Whoa!” He turned to Minx. “What can you do?”

Minx crossed her arms. “It's not that interesting.” Felix shrugged. “I guess we can't all be as great as me.” He bolted up the wall laughing. Jack watched from the ground, suggesting different tricks for Felix to try.

He didn't push Minx to find out her power.

Felix was alright.

Minx sat beside Jack as Felix attempted to run across the ceiling.  
  


\----------------------------  
  


Felix was her second closest friend, right after Jack. 

Minx giggled as Felix ran around the room with Jack on his back. They were teens now, but acted like children. Still, it was fun for them, so they didn't really care if they acted like they were five. Jack clung onto Felix tightly as he ran across the ceiling.

“Slow down!”

“Don't worry! I gotchu girl!”

The door into the room opened, revealing Dr. Hansen. She smiled at the children's antics. “Felix, we're going to run some tests today.” Felix stopped running, still carrying Jack on his back. “But they already took a blood sample yesterday, aren't I supposed to wait until next week?”

Dr. Hansen shook her head. “You're all a little older now, so we can begin an all new set of experiments. Jack, Michelle, and even Ryan haven't done it yet. We thought we'd let you go first Felix.”

Minx scrunched up her nose at Ryan's name. Thankfully he had been called away to speak with the Prime Minister about something. She couldn't handle him trying to make her laugh. It was annoying.

Felix dropped Jack onto his rear. “Ow!” He glared hard at Felix. Felix rolled his eyes. “You can heal you baby.” He followed Dr. Hansen out of the room, letting the door slide shut behind them.

Jack smirked at Minx. “Sooo, what type of experiments are they doing?” Minx rolled her eyes. “Let me check.”

Minx’s ability was not physical like her two friends. She could enter people's minds and explore their memories and thoughts. She didn't necessarily like to, mostly because she could feel anything negative or awful that was inside them. It made her feel… weird. So she didn't do it. Still, it was fun to see the world through another’s eyes.

She closed her eyes, and then opened them.

Felix was sitting on a metal table in a familiar room. The testing room. It was where the doctors took their blood samples. Dr. Hansen was there as well. She placed a hand on Felix's shoulder. “Felix, you're going to lay down on this table, and then I'm going to inject this serum into your neck, okay?” Felix nodded. Dr. Hansen smiled and stuck the needle in, causing him to flinch. A blue-ish green liquid was inserted into his bloodstream.

 _Cold_. Felix felt his chest compress as his arms shook. He sat up quickly, only for Dr. Hansen to push him back down.

“D-Dr. Hansen?” His blood felt like it was literally freezing.

Dr. Hansen strapped Felix down to the table despite his protests. Eventually the cold feeling left Felix, and he was back to normal temperature.

“Dr. Hansen! I want to leave!”

Dr. Hansen said nothing as she injected another substance into his neck. Warmth spread throughout Felix’s body. It was a pleasant change to the frigid feeling from earlier.

His joy fled as soon as the heat escalated.

It felt like he was melting. Sweat trickled down his skin. His throat was dry. Felix started coughing.

It only took a few seconds for him to start hacking up blood.

Minx pulled herself away from the testing room, back to her own mind. Jack was smiling at her. “So?! What is it?”

Minx said nothing, instead wrapping her arms around Jack. Jack hugged her back, a little confused. “Minx?”

The door opened again. Dr. Hansen stepped in, her eyes focused on Jack.

“You're next Jack!” Jack smiled up at her. “Okay.”

Minx clung onto him, glaring at Dr. Hansen. “Stay away from him!”

Dr. Hansen stopped smiling. “Michelle, step back. Your testing is after his.” She tried to grab Jack's arm.

“No!” Michelle's eyes darkened, and Dr. Hansen froze. She took her hand away, starting to claw at her own throat. Jack looked between the two, immediately knowing what was going on. “Minx! Stop it! You're hurting Dr. Hansen!” He tackled her to the ground, knowing it was the only way to snap her out of it.

They landed on the floor. _Hard_. Minx pushed herself up, glaring at Jack. “I was trying to save you you _idiot_!” Jack gawked at her. “Wha-” 

She didn't hear him finish as Dr. Hansen injected something into her neck.  
  


\--------------------  
  


Minx woke up strapped to a metal table. The same one Felix was strapped to previously. She started to pull against the restraints. Nothing gave.

Dr. Hansen walked into her view. Minx narrowed her eyes at her, but nothing else happened. Dr. Hansen grinned. “Your ability won't work. I temporarily subdued it with a medicine. I made it originally for another patient, but I think you need it more.” 

“Let me go you bitch! I saw what you did to Felix!” Dr. Hansen glared at her. “You should learn to listen more like Jack. He's cooperated very nicely.” Just as she said that another figure walked in and leaned against a far wall. Jack.

Minx gaped at him. “Jack! Let me ou-” A sharp sting in her neck indicated that a serum had been injected into her blood. She felt her face go numb as the cold Felix previously experienced washed over her whole body. She began to hack blood as it went to her lungs.

“Ugh, weak. I knew she couldn't last longer than Felix. Jack, come heal her.” Minx felt a pair of hands touch the sides of her face. Jack furrowed his brow as he concentrated on the internal injuries. He was working so fast, that the serum was leaving her blood quicker than it had spread.

_Maybe he could get rid of the other serum._

Minx tried to speak through her coughing. “Jack, let me out!” He shook his head. “I can't. They said if I do anything other than heal you I'll be put into some special testing. I don't want to find out what that is.”

It was wearing off, she could feel her powers returning. “Where is Felix?”

“I healed him. He's in his room recovering. I think they sent Ryan in to calm him down.” Minx’s eyes darkened as she looked up at Jack.

“I'm sorry about this.”

She took over his body. Jack screamed from inside his head for her to stop, but she didn't listen. She had to get out. Without wasting anymore time, Minx used Jack to untie her wrists.

Dr. Hansen shouted words from across the room, but Minx ignored her. She just needed to unstrap her legs and she’d be free. As soon as her hands touched the material she felt a shock run up her entire body. She fell to the table in a heap.

A guard stood above her holding a stun gun. Another was holding Jack, who was unconscious. Dr. Hansen glared at her. “Take her back to her room, I'll start Seán's specialized experiments as punishment.” With that, the guard dragged Minx’s limp body out of the room.

Away from Jack.  
  


\------------------------------  
  


Felix was still in recovery. Ryan was absent like usual. It was just Minx and Jack.

When they were reunited after yesterday's events, Minx thought she would get a hug, or a friendly smile.

Instead she was met with a glare and a bandaged eye.

“Jack?” Minx tried to step forward. Jack took a step back. She frowned. “What happened to your eye?”

He said nothing for a long time. “They wanted to see if I could cure blindness.”

Minx gave a half-smile. “Nothing's too hard for you Jackaboy.” Jack shook his head. “It hasn't healed.”

Minx shrugged. “So?”

Jack spoke lower. “All of my injuries heal within five minutes, even really serious ones. My eye has been useless for hours.” He looked off to the side. 

_And it's your fucking fault._

“Excuse me?!” Minx shouted. Jack looked surprised. He didn't say it aloud.

But that didn't matter.

“You refused to help me! What kind of fucking friend are you?!” Minx snarled.

Jack curled his hands into fists.”I was trying to not cause a shit storm, something you were too selfish to think of! I might never be able to see out of this eye again _Michelle_!”

Minx froze.

He called her Michelle.

He knew she hated it when people used her real name. That was the whole reason she let Jack give her a nickname.

_Yet, he didn't seem to fucking care._

The door opened and Dr. Hansen walked in again. She placed her hand on Jack's shoulder causing him to flinch. “We need you to help us heal Ryan. He just went through testing.” Jack nodded and followed, completely dismissing Minx.

As tears fell from her face, she only had one thought.

**_I hate you._ **   
  


\--------------------------------  
  


Mark snapped his eyes open at the sound of a siren. He covered his ears, wincing at the appalling sound. _What's going on?!_ Minx chuckled dryly.

**_That's what happens when you separate Dan and Phil._ **   
  



	14. -Thirteen-

The siren continued to blare, causing Mark to cry out. “Why won't they turn it off?!” He couldn't hear his own thoughts, so instead he shouted them.

Minx spoke in his head again, though she sounded quiet compared to the roaring alarm. _**They aren't the ones doing it, Dan took over some of the guards and made them turn on the siren. He's also enhancing everyone's ability to hear. It sounds louder than it actually is.**_

Mark winced. “How can he do that? I thought he could only mess with people's memories!!”

_**You'd be surprised what people are capable of under great distress. Don't worry about it, they'll send someone in to subdue him momentarily.** _

Mark waited a few seconds. Then a few minutes. Nothing but the horrible alarm.

 _Shit_. Mark frowned. “Isn't someone coming to help him?”

 _ **Someone DID. Dan glared at them and they started to have a seizure. They're not going to send another human.**_ She paused for a moment. **_They just sent Ryan, he's calming Dan down_** **.**

The siren stopped, and the door to Mark's room slid open. He sighed in relief. _It's over_. He stood up and walked out the door.  
  


_**L̦̭̖͌̾̋͊͜E̵̛͈̮͖̬̐ͪ͟A̸̢̼̼̿̂̕V̪̳Ĕ̿ͧ͘͏̸ ͍͔͖M̵̻̜̏͝E̪҉̧̢͟ ̞̘̮̩̃A̰ͬ̍̔Ļ͓O͚͚̭ͫN̨͓̔̽̇͜͏E̒҉͟͝** _

Screaming echoed throughout the halls. Mark doubled over as it reached his ears. It sounded close, like it was inside his own head.

Images of bloody children flashed through his head. He didn't recognize any of them, but he could still feel their pain. Groaning, he fell onto his knees, pressing his forehead against the floor.

He felt pain from everywhere. His scream mixed in with dozens of others. It felt almost as bad as the third injection.

Almost.

 _ **Mark**_. He didn't respond, tears falling down his face as the pain tripled. _**He won’t let me inside his head, this is the worst he’s ever been. I have to reach him physically, but I’m in solitary. I'm going to take over your body. It's going to hurt a LOT, but it's the only way to help Dan**_.

Mark said nothing. He couldn't.

Suddenly he felt his body go numb. _Minx_. She forced Mark to stand, earning crippling waves of pain. Mark would've shrieked if he were in control.

Minx put one foot forward. Then the other. She repeated this over and over, heading towards a certain room. Each step was more painful than the last. Mark felt every ounce of it.

The other doors were also open. Numerous mutants were curled up in fetal positions. Some crying. Some screaming. They were all feeling it.

Eventually they made it to the room. Mark knew it was Dan's. The screaming inside his mind was loudest there. Minx made him step inside.

Ryan was curled on his side, blood running from his nose. His eyes were wide and unmoving.

 _ **He's not dead. Don't worry**_. They looked at Dan, who was sitting in the corner of the room with his head in his knees, rocking back and forth. They took a step forward.

Dan’s head snapped up. Mark's eyes met his, and a force from seemingly nowhere made him fall to his knees.

_Two teenage boys walked side by side down the streets of London. One of them laughed as he talked about their classes. The other simply listened, adding a snarky comment here and there. They continued to walk down the dark streets._

_“Dan?” The quiet one raised an eyebrow. “What Phil, scared of the dark?” He smiled challengingly._

_He dropped his smile at the sight of Phil's fear-stricken face._

_Dan turned to see what he was looking at, tensing at the sight of some grown men walking towards them._

_That wouldn't have alarmed him if it weren't for the large bat one of them was carrying._

_Dan grabbed Phil's hand and broke off into a sprint, tugging him along. Phil craned his neck to look at them. “They're chasing us!” Dan turned down an alleyway, hoping to lose them._

_He paled at the sight of a dead end._

_Someone yanked him away from Phil. Dan was punched in the face and pushed to the ground. He watched as someone smacked Phil's face into a brick wall._

_It wasn't a secret that these two were mutants. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened._

_Dan slammed the back of his head against his captor, but they stayed steady and just slammed his face into the concrete floor. Blood fell from Dan's mouth and pooled beneath his body. Phil's cries echoed around him. He could feel his pain._

_The men surrounding them laughed at their misery. He felt one of them kick him in the side. It didn't matter to him. He hated himself already. He just wanted Phil to be okay._

_One of them grabbed Phil by his arm and twisted it behind his back, causing him to cry out. Dan tried to lunge at him, only for another guy to stomp on his back, keeping him there. The same guy grabbed Dan by his hair and forced him to watch as they kicked Phil, who was curled into a little ball._

_He had to watch as they_ _**hurt** _ _him._ _**Hurt** _ _his best friend. They were all_ _**monsters** _ _._

_They needed to_ _**die** _ _._

_Dan’s eyes darkened, and all of the men around him fell to their knees. They started screaming and scratching at their skin, drawing blood. Dan walked over to Phil, everything else unimportant to him._

_He grabbed Phil's hand and pulled him up. Immediately Phil wrapped his arms around Dan, sobbing into his shoulder. Dan didn't hug back and instead glared down at the men who attacked them. They started to choke on their own blood from clawing at their throats so much._

_Phil was ripped away from his arms, and Dan was shoved to the ground. He feebly tried to reach out to Phil, only for someone to stomp on his hand. He cried out, looking up to see who attacked them._

_A man smiled down at him holding Phil against his chest. He placed a gun near Phil's head. Dan knew who this man was, he would see him on the news and on magazine covers. Still, that didn't change the fact he was holding a gun to Phil’s head. Dan tried to use his powers against him._

_But he couldn't…._

_**Fight it. He's trying to trap you in his past.**_ Mark slowly stood, though it was more of Minx’s doing than it was his. That wasn't his own memory, he knew that. Still, it hurt. Mark just wanted to lay down and cry at this point.

As they walked forward the screaming intensified. Dan wasn't making this easy, that was certain.

They stopped about a foot away from him. Dan’s voice suddenly rang throughout Mark's head.

_**T͙̻ͭ̐ͫͤḨ̵̮͎̐ͫ͗͌̕͜͠ͅẺ͔̝̖̺͒̈́́̎Y̴̸̡̦̟͈̩̫͒͟͡ ̮̹͑H̙̣̯̃ͧͤŲ̸̵̴̙͜R̴̨̦͉͈̂̓̽͑͝͠͠T́̕͜͟͜ ̛̛̟̼͎͂ͫͦ̈ͩ͜͟Ḩ̶̳̺̺̭̣̑̎̏͑́͘I̮̗͛̔ͦM̢̛͝͠.̷̒ ̸̝̬ͣ͘͜S̸̊̏͆ͣ͢O͎͗ ̶̶̧͕̳̌̊İ̴̯̏̚'̸̙̳͍̬͞L̶̴̛̳͖͢͜L̶͚̤̩̎ͨ̀͘ ̸̻͈͕̬ͫ͒́͞ͅH̴̢͕̗̗͍̼ͮͤ̋̾̆͢Ȗ̠̞̣̓ͪ̐̉҉҉͟R͙͍̩͎ͨͮ͝T̵̵͖͎͍̜ͪ͢͢ ̨͛̕͢͝T͟H̸̡͞E͍͔ͤ̚͏̛͘M̵̢͍̥̳̻̬̔͋̚͠ ̡̊͑̓B̬̦̻͚̩̑̅̃̚͡A̴̙͆͊̾̕͟C̠̻͡K͉̪̬̜͏̶̢̕͠.̱̖̥̃̒͛͛̍** _

_**Join the club**_. Minx moved Mark's palm over Dan's forehead. A gruesome image of Phil flashed for a second, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Dan fell forward. Unconscious.

 _ **Finally. Now I can sleep**_. Minx left, allowing Mark to regain control of his body. He stumbled for a second but didn't fall. Ryan jerked up, his eyes darting over to Dan, then to Mark. He smiled.

“Looks like Michelle got sick of the commotion. You alright Mark? I haven't seen you or Jack since they took you away yesterday.”

Mark shifted his weight. “I guess? I mean, Minx is still confusin-”

“Minx? Wow, she must trust you to tell you that.” He raised an eyebrow. “But she probably didn't tell you everything.”

Mark shrugged. “She told me some things. Probably more than she's ever told you.” Ryan chuckled, but it wasn't as nice sounding as usual. “Trust me Mark, you're only at the surface of all of this.”

Before Mark could ask what he meant by that guards rushed into the room. One grabbed Mark, the other grabbed Ryan. The final two snatched Dan up by his arms and dragged him out towards the testing room. Mark and Ryan were escorted out as well. The guards lead them into the cafeteria and let go of them, exiting without a word. The doors shut.

Mark looked around the room. The other mutants were all there (not counting Dan, Phil, Jack and Minx). Mark then looked to Ryan, who was smiling. _Why was he so cheery? That whole endeavor was awful._

“What was that?” Mark still had no idea what had happened. Ryan smacked his palm to his head. “You don't know! Would've thought Michelle told you. Anyways, they were experimenting on Phil. Since he and Dan have a really strong mental connection, Dan feels Phil's pain magnified. He lashed out because he wanted to stop them.”

“Whoa.” Mark ran a hand through his hair. “That's terrible.” Ryan shrugged. “It's routine.” He then looked to the now-open breakfast buffet. “We should get something to eat. You especially. I can tell you're starving.” Mark crossed his arms over his stomach. He hadn't been able to hold down food after all he had seen.

“N-no, I'm fine.” Ryan shook his head. “C'mon you don't have to worry about stuff like that here.”

Mark glared at him. “This place is horrifying! Of course I should worry!” Ryan narrowed his eyes, and Mark felt himself break into a smile.

 _No! Stop it!_ Mark shook his head rapidly, placing his hands over the sides of his face. Ryan persisted, trying to push more happy thoughts in his head. Mark hated it.

“Why can't you just leave me alone!?” Mark cried out, curling his wings around himself. Ryan's influence ceased, and he took a step back. Mark looked up, seeing that he was looking in another direction. Mark followed his line of sight, freezing when he saw a guard holding a mutant against a table, trying to place a band over his wrists. He recognised the mutant as the guy who could manipulate water.

“Fuck off man! I don't have to go into testing until next week!” The guard glared down at him. “You're not the only one going in early, so stop struggling.”

The guy looked over at another table where a girl and her friends were sitting. They all had bottles of water. The guy narrowed his eyes and the water bottles burst, the water then collecting into a floating ball in the air. The ball of water then flew into the guard's face, causing him to let go of the guy as he began to suffocate.

An owl landed on the ground next to him and shifted into another boy. “Jonathan! Dude put him down!” Jonathan rolled his eyes. “You're such a mom Evan.” The water fell to the ground, the guard with it. He started to hack up water.

The doors opened up again, this time two guards walking in. One of them took out a gun and shot a dart into Jonathan's neck. He fell to the ground unconscious. Evan bent down to check on him only for another dart to hit him in the chest. He fell down as well.

PJ glared at the guards, standing up from his table. “What the hell? There's no reason to take Evan out!” The guard pointed the gun at him and shot, hitting him straight in the neck. Lilly's eyes widened. “What the-” She was cut off as a dart hit her in the chest.

More guards filed in, each holding a gun. Now however, the mutants were aware of what was happening and began fighting back. Felix ran past multiple guards, every dart missing him. Anthony barreled into guards, knocking them all over the place.

A few darts flew Mark's way, but he took off into the air, out of their reach. He maneuvered throughout the air, gracefully dodging the darts. The mutants below were doing great as well. Anthony was about to throw one of them into some others.

Then he froze, a tight smile on his face.

One of the darts hit him and he fell. A few other mutants had the same happen to them. Mark landed on the ground and looked around in confusion. _Why were they stopping?_

Felix froze and fell to the ground. One of the guards was running up to him.

Mark moved to help him when a pair of arms wrapped around his chest. He turned his neck to see Ryan holding him back.

“What- Let me go-”

He was cut off as a dart went into his neck.


	15. -Fourteen-

Mark awoke in his bed, a stiff feeling in both his neck and wrists. He moved one of his hands to touch his neck, tensing when he saw the metal cuff on his wrist. He moved his other hand, finding another cuff to match. They were pressed tightly against his skin, but they didn't feel like normal metal. Instead of cold they felt warm, like electricity. Mark moved a hand to touch his neck, feeling something that certainly was _not_ skin.

He got up, ignoring the slight dizziness in his head, and made his way to the bathroom mirror. Sure enough, a thin, metallic collar was fastened around his neck.

Mark had many questions and theories about what it could do. None of them were pleasant.

The door to the hall opened, causing Mark to jump a little. He walked out of the room, not really caring much to change into another set of clothes. The other mutants seemed to be in the same condition as him, all sporting the same cuffs and collars. Mark tried to call out to the one person who might know what was going on.

 _Minx!_ He awaited for her voice in his mind, but there was only silence.

He walked into the cafeteria, eyes scanning the crowds. Unsurprisingly there was no sign of Jack. Still, Mark was worried.

He noticed Felix and PJ talking at a table by themselves. Some mutants had gone to get breakfast, but it seemed those two were too enveloped in their conversation to care. Mark walked over, absentmindedly fiddling with the cuff on his wrist that was too tight to budge. “Hey.” Both of the boys looked up. PJ had a small smile, while Felix just glared.

“Do either of you know what's going on?” PJ shrugged. “Your guess is as good as ours. All we know is that Ryan isn't here, along with Dan and Phil.” Felix pointed over at another table, where Evan was sitting with a few other guys.

“Evan's back, but Jonathan must be in recovery. Still no fucking clue why they have us wearing these fucking friendship bracelets.” He waved a wrist.

Mark pulled his wings in a little. _Well that accomplished nothing._ Just then the door opened back up, allowing a guard to walk through. His eyes zeroed in on the trio as he strode forward, stopping right at their table. “PJ Liguori, it is time for your experiments.” PJ sighed, standing up. Felix grabbed his hand real quick, causing him to look down.

“Tell me if Jack is okay.” PJ nodded, a smile on his face.

That smile contorted into a grimace as he shrieked, immediately letting go of Felix’s hand. He fell to his knees as his shrieking grew louder, tears falling down his cheeks. Mark's eyes widened at the guard, who removed his finger from a button on his wrist. “We're wasting time.”

Felix knelt down in front of PJ, hugging him as he tried to catch his breath. “What the absolute _fuck_. Why did you fucking shock him?!” The guard snarled. “You're _both_ wasting time. This cure needs to be made as soon as possible.”

Felix tightened his hold on PJ. “They've been working on this cure for years and haven't come close! What the fuck makes you think they'll be able to make it now?” The guard glared hard at Felix before pressing the button on his wrist again. PJ shrieked again, his entire body jolting. Felix stood and bolted at the guard, stopping only inches away from him as the same electricity hurting PJ coursed through his body. He fell to the ground, drool starting to drip from the corner of his mouth. He looked over at Mark, mouthing the words _help me._

Mark watched from the other side of the table. He wanted to help, but what could he do? If he tried to attack the guard he would just shock him or the others. Even if he was successful in stopping him, what then? Other guards would appear, and then the entire ordeal would've been useless. So he stayed put.

Eventually the guard stopped. PJ collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to move. Felix was in the same condition, face against ground, drool mixing with tears. The guard pressed another button on his wrist, causing PJ’s cuffs to pull together and stick magnetically. He then grabbed PJ by his bound wrists and dragged him out of the room, the door shutting behind them.

Mark ran over to Felix, helping him sit up. He muttered something under his breath, too quiet for Mark to hear.

“What was that?”

“I said,” Felix looked into Mark's eyes, pure fury emitting from his expression. “This is your fucking fault.”

Mark opened his mouth to reply, but Felix beat him to it. “I'll admit, this place was shit even before you got here, but somehow you made it _worse_. People are getting hurt and separated because of _you_.”

 _No_. Mark shook his head. “I-I didn't-”

“There you go again with that kicked puppy act. Seriously it's getting old. Oh, your family was torn away from you? Guess what, I haven't seen my family in fucking _years_. They might be dead for all I know! These people,” He gestured to the mutants around them, many of whom who were staring at the two. “Are the only family any of us have left. Somehow, you're even taking that away.”

Mark felt the tips of his wings curl around himself slightly. “You're acting like I haven't been through anything. I was _dissected_ and _lied_ to. My thoughts have been invaded by other people rummaging through my memories. And no offense, but I’m probably one of the few people here who actually has some type of self control. ” Felix chuckled dryly. “Please, you've only had the the tip of the knife that's been stabbed into the rest of us over and over. And as far as self-control goes, you're the only one of us to go as far as to _murder Dr. Hansen._ ”

Mark paled. Felix clicked his tongue. “Not much of a saint, are ya?”

Mark stood, tears threatening to spill.

_That wasn't him._

_He's not a murderer._

Felix stood up, seeing that he hit hard with that comment. “Yeah, you're walking around thinking you're some pure soul who was thrown into this swarm of misfits to save them or some shit? You're just like us. Maybe even worse.” He tilts his head to the side. “Minx was able to take over you pretty easily. She can only do that to really fucked-up people. So tell me, what did you do that was just so fucking horrible?” He smirked. “Maybe that doctor wasn't your first kill-”

“That's enough Felix.” Anthony had walked up to them. “You don't know who he is or what he's dealt with, stop tormenting him.” Felix turned to him, babbling about something or other. Mark honestly wasn't paying attention, he just knew the this was his chance to bolt. He turned and went to the breakfast line. He didn't feel like eating, but his stomach was protesting after going a few days malnourished. He grabbed an apple and a cup of water. After that he decided on sitting at an empty table.

Somehow he felt more alone than he did back home. Did he really cause all of these bad things to happen? Was this really his fault? He took a drink of water, nearly gulping it down when he realized how dehydrated he was. He felt as if numerous eyes were on him. Like people were whispering about him at different tables.

**_They are._ **

Mark almost jumped at the sound of Dan’s voice. _Dan?_

**_No, the other telepath with my same voice._ **

Definitely Dan. _What are you doing in my head?_

 ** _You're the only one I can make it to for some reason._** Mark bit into his apple. Maybe Felix was right. There must be something demented in him that makes him so easy to access.

**_Or broken._ **

_Right. Telepathic._ Mark continued to chew the apple. _Why did you need to reach me?_

_**Because I may have a way to get us out of here. Or at the very least, out of the cafeteria.** _

Mark nearly choked on his apple. _What? How?_

**_I just need to take over your body. The rest you leave up to me. I can't do it unless you let me, I'm not as strong as Michelle when it comes to that._ **

_What can I do?_

**_Just let me do this Mark. I saw what they're doing, it's not pretty. We all need to get out of here as fast as possible, and the only way to do so is to start with you._ **

Mark bit his cheek, thinking. Who was he kidding? It's not like he had a better option. He sighed. _Okay_. Just like that, his body went numb. Dan was in control. He wordlessly stood up, walking straight over to the table where Felix, Lilly, Anthony, and Ian sat. Felix lifted his head, narrowing his eyes at Mark. “What do you want?”

Mark said nothing, instead grabbing Felix by the arm.

_Dan what are you-_

He was cut off as Felix’s wrist snapped.

Felix screamed, clawing at Mark's arm with his good one. Anthony stood. “Mark?! What are you doing?!!” Dan made Mark squeeze the broken wrist harder, causing Felix to cry out. He said nothing.

 _Let him go!_ Mark didn't see how this was helping anything. Why would Dan hurt Felix?

The doors opened up again, allowing three guards to walk in. One of them pressed a button on their wrist, sending volts of electricity through Mark's body. Mark let go of Felix, falling to the floor in a trembling heap.

Two of the guards each grabbed one of Mark’s arms, dragging him out the door. The last one escorted Felix out as well, leading him towards the testing room, probably to get healed by Jack.

Hopefully to get healed by Jack.

Mark was dragged past the testing room and further down the hall. They stopped at a door where one of the guards had to take out his keycard and scan it. It opened, revealing a bare, stark-white room. It looked like a padded cell.

It probably was.

The two guards tossed Mark in. He hit the floor hard on his right side, landing a little on his wing. The door shut, leaving him alone.

**_Ah. You made it._ **

Mostly alone.

_Dan! What in the world did you do? Where am I?_

“You're in a padded cell, obviously.”

Mark's eyes darted around the room. He did _not_ hear that in his head. He pushed himself onto his knees, still too weak to stand, and looked around the room. “Dan where are you?”

“I'm in the next room over. I'm speaking to you through the vents.” Mark narrowed his eyes. “What vents?”

“The ones in the ceiling. They're hidden under some of the padding. It's glued on, but you can rip it off pretty easily. Michelle and I have never been able to reach them, but we were able to locate them.”

“Wait, Michelle is here?” Dan groaned. “Yes, now let's skip the “oh my goodness” bullshit and get on to part two of the plan.”

“What plan? And what do you mean part two?”

Dan groaned again, and Mark could imagine him rolling his eyes. “Part one: Get Mark into solitary. Part two: Have Mark fly up into the vents and free us. Part three: Get the fuck out of here. So birdboy, ready to finish your part?”

Mark frowned as he looked around. “What about cameras? Won't they see me?”

“There apparently isn't anything camera or Mic wise in the solitary rooms. Michelle said it was to make sure that this one mutant couldn't hack into them. Whoever that was. Anyway, it just means that nobody is watching. So do it now, and fast. You have to get me and a few others out.”

Mark looked up at the ceiling. “Keep talking so I know where the vent is.” Dan hummed. “Felix is a fucking asshole, and I'm an asshole, so that's saying something. I'm sorry he was such a dick to you.” Mark didn't respond, instead ripping off one of the squares of padding on the ceiling, revealing a vent. It seemed very large, three-by-three feet. Mark grabbed the opening of the vent, shaking it a couple times before it fell off. _Why was it so easy to break?_

“I heard something, are you in?” Dan's voice called, much easier to hear now. Mark placed two of his arms in the vent, testing to see if he could fit with his wings. “Not yet.”

“Well hurry it up. You've got work to do.” Mark pulled himself in, crushing his wings against the metal walls. He had to lie on his stomach as he pulled himself forward with his arms towards the sound of Dan’s voice.


	16. -Fifteen-

It wasn't until then that Mark pondered the idea of being claustrophobic.

His wings were pressed tightly against his back, forcing him to squish his stomach flat against the metal. It felt like the walls were getting closer. He dragged himself forward, trying to keep his breathing normal.

“Mark how close are you?” Dan's voice echoed around Mark, causing him to wince. “Close? You're definitely getting louder.” 

“Well hurry. Eventually they're going to send someone to check on you.” Mark stopped above a vent that looked into another all-white room. He could see the top of someone's head. Dan. Mark maneuvered himself so that his legs were right above the vent and kicked as hard as he could. The metal fell straight to the ground with a loud clang. Mark then dropped through. He spread his wings out and glided down, landing next to Dan. Dan stood up and smiled at him. Not a really nice smile, but a smile.

“Well, looks like Michelle was right. You're good for something. Now fly me up. We still have to get to her and Jonathan.” Mark nodded and grabbed Dan's hands in his, flying him upwards. Dan entered first, and then Mark.

“Those are some big fucking wings.” Dan muttered from behind Mark. Mark couldn't really turn around and see him, but he could imagine him rolling his eyes by his tone. “Alright, just continue until you see another opening below you.” Mark continued forward.

A thought crossed Mark's mind. “Dan, why wasn't the opening to your vent blocked off like mine?”

Dan groaned. “Isn't it obvious? You're the only one who could reach the vent so they blocked it off knowing you could fly up. They didn't have to for the rest of us.” Mark mumbled an okay, still not really sure on his answer.

Eventually Mark saw a little bit of light coming from the floor in front of him. Another vent. He stopped right before it, causing Dan to hit Mark's wings. “A warning would've been nice..” He grumbled.

“Sorry.” Mark apologized. He looked down into the room below. A boy was laying down in the middle of the floor. Mark immediately recognized him as Jonathan from before. He positioned himself over the vent and once again kicked through. The piece of metal fell and hit Jonathan straight in the stomach.

“Ow! What the fu-” Jonathan cut himself off as he watched Mark glide down. “Well shit, it's my fucking guardian angel!” He stood, holding his arms up to the ceiling. “I'm ready to ascend.”

Mark stifled a laugh as he grabbed Jonathan by the arms and flew him up to the vent opening, helping him climb in with Dan. He then climbed in as well, going back to finding another opening.

“Sup Danny-Boy?” Dan groaned at Jonathan's apparent nickname for him. “Mark hurry up and find Michelle before I kill someone.” Mark nodded, though Dan probably couldn't even see him past the wings.

As they moved onwards the vent got bigger, enough so that Mark didn’t have to slide across his stomach anymore. He moved on his hands and knees. If it wasn’t for his wings he could probably almost stand in a hunched over position. A few moments later they were above another opening. Mark looked down but didn't see anyone.

“Dan, I don't think she's in here.”

“What? She has to be. Kick the grate in and check.” Mark did so and glided down into the room. He looked around, stopping at a figure in the corner of the room, just out of view of the vent.

A girl with long brown hair was sitting with her head hung, making it impossible to see her face. Mark stepped forward, speaking quietly. “Minx?”

The girl raised her head slowly. Her hair still covered half of her face, but the part that was visible glared at Mark. “Took you long enough.”

“Why couldn't you reach me earlier?” Minx pushed herself off of the floor and took a step forward, only to stumble and fall on her face. Mark rushed to her side and pulled her up. Minx looked at him, her eyes glazed and far-away looking.

“They drugged me. I can't fucking concentrate enough to walk, let alone use my powers..” She slumped against Mark's chest.

Mark looked up at the vent as he flew Minx into it. Jonathan was staring out of the opening, his eyes wide with concern. “Shit..” Mark wordlessly handed Minx up to him, climbing into the vent. He tucked his wings even tighter to his body as he turned to look at the others, scraping them roughly against the metal walls. Ow..

“What do we do now?” Jonathan shifted Minx in his arms. “Keep moving forward until the vent goes over the hall.” Mark nodded, turning around to lead them through the vent. Dan and Jonathan conversed behind him.

“She's gonna be okay, right?”

“....”

“Dan. She's gonna be okay, right?”

“Let's just get the fuck out of here.”

Mark bottled up his worries at the sight of another vent opening. This one was right above a hall, not a room. He stopped above it, biting the inside of his cheek. Someone bumped into him. “Why'd you stop?” Jonathan. Mark continued to stare at the opening as he answered back. “We're right above the hall, should we go in?” Jonathan scoffed. “Of course! We didn't come this far just to sit in the vents!”

“Hold on, we don't know if there are any guards down there.” Dan closed his eyes, scrunching his nose in concentration. After a few moments he opened them. “All clear.” Mark nodded and kicked the grate in, gliding down to the floor. Jonathan hopped out, landing on his feet while still holding Minx. Dan jumped out after them, landing oh-so-gracefully on his back.

“Fuck!” He pushed himself up,muttering curses the whole time. Mark turned to see a figure standing only a few yards away from them.

Ryan, who wasn’t wearing a collar.

“Glad to see you made it out okay.” Mark glared at Ryan and spread out his wings, shielding the others behind him. “Stay away.”

Ryan frowned, an expression not welcome on his usually beaming face. “Mark I'm not going to hurt you.”

“Why did you help the guards? We could've taken them and escaped.” Jonathan held Minx close while Dan glared at Ryan as well.

Ryan's eyes widened and he looked behind himself. There were numerous voices getting progressively louder. Guards. He snapped his head back to look at the others. “I did it to help you! They put me in charge of watching over you all after I earned their trust. Why else do you think it was so easy to escape?”

“You're lying.”

The voices were closer now. It would only be seconds before they were with them. Ryan pulled his sleeve up, displaying a wrist watch with buttons on it.

Just like the one the guard from before had.

Ryan pushed one of the buttons, and Mark clenched his eyes shut, bracing for the worse. 

_Click._

Mark opened his eyes just in time to see his collar and the cuffs fall to the ground. He looked behind himself, seeing the others freed as well. 

“Hey! Nobody move!” One of the guards shouted. Ryan smiled as his eyes glazed over. All of the guards dropped to the ground simultaneously. Ryan blinked, smile still present.

“See? I'm here to help.” Jonathan didn't take a step closer, but he did seem more relaxed. Dan however continued to scowl at him. “Why? You helped them out and did their bidding, so why are you now on our side?”

Ryan pointed at his wristwatch. “I was never on their side. I just needed them to trust me so I could get this. Otherwise, we might've never been able to escape.” He looked back over his shoulder. “We have to move, they're sending in more guards.” 

Jonathan chimed in. “Where is everyone else?” Ryan pointed down the hall. “The cafeteria. It's lunch time.” He started running to the door. “Hurry!” The others bolted after him.

Once Ryan was at the door he pulled out a card, much like the ones that the guards carried around, and slid it into the slot beside the door. The door opened up, revealing the cafeteria full of mutants that were confused as to why there was a small band of them freed and unguarded. 

Ryan pressed the button on his wrist and all of the mutant’s collars and cuffs fell off. He smiled, and it actually, truly seemed like he felt happy.

“Get the fuck back in your rooms!” Mark and the others turned around to see even more guards, all of them holding tranquilizer guns. Mark spread his wings out and flew into the air, drawing the attention of the guards. Jonathan took that moment to look into the cafeteria and focus his energy on the water inside, pulling it from the cups and bottles, forming a giant, floating bubble of water. He laughed, and the water flew into the first row of guards, picking them up and throwing them against the wall.

A guard aimed his gun at Jonathan, only to get body checked into the air by Anthony. The mutants were all running out of the cafeteria and joining in the fight. Michelle looked down to Ryan. “We need to get to the testing room…” She tried to move out of Jonathan's arms.

Ryan shook his head. “You're drained, just rest for now.” He looked to Mark. “You up for this?”

Mark nodded. “Of course.” Ryan smirked. “Good.” He faced the hall that lead to the testing room, where even more guards were coming from.

“I think it’s time we let our caretakers know how much we appreciate them.”


	17. -Sixteen-

"I think it's time we let our _caretakers_ know how much we appreciate them."

As soon as Ryan uttered the words, Jonathan sent another wave of water unto the guards. It shoved many of them back into each other, causing them to fall like dominos. Those that were still standing aimed their guns at Jonathan specifically and fired.

A girl with a black pixie-cut raised her hands above her head and all the darts changed direction, hitting the walls. She didn't notice as a guard came up behind her and shot at her.

"Pam!" Ian ran behind her and put an arm out, manifesting a large force field that stopped the dart from reaching them. Anthony came out of nowhere and tackled the guard to the ground. 

Mark watched as numerous mutants teamed up, using their abilities to help one another. Evan morphed into an owl, flying right above a band of guards. They aimed their guns at him, not noticing as Jonathan sent a wave of water into them, throwing them against the wall.

Lilly and Anthony looked at each other, each of them nodding. Lilly then picked him up and threw him at the guards. Anthony landed fist-first, leaving a crater in the floor as the guards flew in different directions.

More guards filed in, filling up the spaces where the previous guards once were.

"What do we do now? They just keep coming!" Jonathan called to the others, still holding Minx. Mark pointed down the hall. "Jack and Felix are supposed to be in the testing room. We need to get to them."

Dan scoffed. "Do you see what we're up against? There's too many of them. Not only that, but nobody is going to just let us in. We need another way around the guards."

Mark looked around for a second, eyes drifting back to the vent opening. "What if we go back in there?"

Dan shook his head. "The others will warn the doctors as soon as they see us enter."

Mark recalled the surge of power Dan had earlier, when guards and mutants alike had fallen to their knees in agony. "Can't you do that thing you did earlier? Everyone was basically at your mercy."

Dan glared at Mark. "I can't do that at will you _moron_." Mark shrunk back a little under Dan's glare. Ryan put a hand up. "Okay, calm down. There has to be a different way."

"There isn't one you positive fu-"

"Hey!" Jonathan interjected. "What if we distract them? We can have Mark go into the vents with someone while the others are busy." 

Ryan beamed. "That could work!" Dan rolled his eyes. "What could possibly be distracting enough to ignore a guy with _huge pink wings_ flying into the ceiling?!" Ryan nodded his head to a guy standing behind Lilly with black hair and brown eyes.

"Nate."

Jonathan's eyes widened. Dan shook his head. "No way. That's not going to work." Ryan frowned. "His ability is perfect for this."

"We're all going to die."

Mark frowned. "What can he do?" Dan turned his head towards him. "Hopefully you won't ever have to experience it because it's fucking idiotic to even consider letting him do it." He turned to Ryan. "If Mark has to hear it then he won't be able to move."

Ryan gestured to Jonathan. "Jonathan can make a wall of water around himself and Mark to drown out the sound." 

Jonathan's eyes widened as Minx nearly slipped out of his arms. "What the fuck are you talking about? I can't block that shit!"

"Yes you can." Ryan then turned his head in Nate's direction. "Nate!" Jonathan hurriedly thrust Minx into Dan's arms, who stumbled as he awkwardly held her. Nate snapped his head towards Ryan.

"Siren!"

Nate nodded in understanding, opening his mouth. A wall of water quickly manifested around Mark and Jonathan, leaving the others defenseless. Mark watched from inside the giant water bubble as guards and mutants alike fell to their knees, arms wrapping around their heads as they cried out. The sound was too distorted for the other two to hear. Mark smiled, spreading his wings out. "It doesn't sound like anything other then muffled voices. You're doing grea-" He stopped at the sight of Jonathan.

Blood was dripping from his nose and over his lips, which were pulled back tight enough to show his teeth. "...h-hurry..."

Mark quickly grabbed onto his arm and flew upwards into the vent. Once they were inside Mark let him go. Jonathan began to shake, the blood pouring from both his nose and mouth.

 _That's enough!_ Mark shouted within his own mind, hoping that Ryan or Dan would be able to stop Nate before Jonathan collapsed.

He received no answer as Jonathan slumped forward and the water cascaded over them. As soon as the drops hit him, he heard it.

It sounded so..beautiful. Nate had such an amazing voice. It seemed to pull Mark forward, back towards the vent opening.

The voice was mesmerizing. 

Enchanting.

 _Suffocating_.

Mark felt his lungs constrict, making it harder to breathe. The sweet melody began to morph in Mark's ears, becoming louder, higher. All other sound was overtaken by it. Mark stopped moving as he suddenly felt pain spread throughout his body. He clenched his eyes shut as he bowed his head forward, blood starting to drip from his nose.

The sound was cut off abruptly. Mark inhaled shakily, coughing. Jonathan jolted upright, doing the same. They both exchanged a look of confusion. What caused him to stop?

A gunshot rang throughout the vent, answering their question.

Mark looked down the vent. 

They had to move.


	18. -Seventeen-

As Mark scurried through the vent on his hands and knees, he realized he had no idea where the hell he was going. Although after hearing the gunshot, he didn't really plan on trying to think of the route.

Thankfully he didn't have to, as Jonathan already knew.

"Left." Mark took a left.

"Right." Mark took a right.

"Another right." Jonathan started to cough, stopping for a moment. Mark stopped and turned as well, worry evident in his face. "Are you okay?"

Jonathan chuckled, wiping some more blood from his nose. "Yeah, just keep going." Mark turned and began to move again, not quite believing his words.

After a little bit of traveling through the vents they heard a familiar voice and stopped. _Felix_. However his words were too muffled to hear clearly.

Jonathan coughed. "If we follow his voice we should be able to find the testing room." Mark turned, his wings scraping against the vent walls. "You should stay here and rest, that barrier took a lot out of you."

Jonathan shook his head. "No, you'll die out there by yourself."

"I can handle this. You just stay here and I'll come back for you."

Jonathan was silent for a moment before sighing. "Just kick their asses." Mark smirked and crawled down the vent.

It only took a few moments of crawling for Felix's voice to go from muffled to crystal clear. "What the fuck did you do to him?! Why can't he fucking speak?!!" Mark tensed, knowing exactly what he was talking about. He stopped above a grate and peered down, seeing Felix strapped down to the metal table, a doctor on his right, and another on his left.

The doctor to his right spoke. "Dr.Hansen performed an unorthodox procedure in an attempt to calm down Mark Fischbach. I suggest you leave the subject alone, as it has already been taken care of." The doctor on the left took out a syringe containing serum C and injected it into Felix's neck.

"Like hell it has! Why the fuck can't he speak?! What did she do-" He was cut off by his own screaming. Mark paled.

It only took one more cry from Felix for him to break through the grate and land on the floor. The two doctors hovering over Felix stopped what they were doing to turn and gawk at the winged-mutant who had snuck into the room. They didn't have long to look, as Mark barreled into them at a speed that even Felix would be impressed with. He body-checked a doctor into the wall, knocking them out. The other tried to run. Mark used the wing nearest to him and smacked the doctor away, watching him hit the floor.

A sudden hot pain hit Mark in his left hip. He cried out, flying up into the air. Below him a guard stood holding a long metal pole that sparked at the end. Mark flapped his wings quickly, causing the guard to shield his eyes from the wind. He then took the opportunity to dive into him, smacking his head against the ground and knocking him out. 

A loud squeak caught Mark's attention, and he looked over to find it's source: a certain brunette boy sitting in the corner of the room with his arms and legs tied.

"Jack!" Mark called over the sound of Felix screaming. He wasted no time in rushing over and untying Jack. 

Jack stood up, opening his mouth to say "thank you" on instinct. The look that crossed his face caused Mark's heart to break a little. Jack quickly shook his head and ran over to Felix. He then placed his hands lightly over Felix's neck, and within moments the screaming stopped. Jack pulled his hands away and let him sit up.

The two stared at each other for a moment before hugging, Jack's face buried into Felix's shoulder. It was obvious that their friendship was more of a brotherhood, and seeing each other this broken was as bad as suffering themselves, if not worse. Mark watched awkwardly from the side, still unfamiliar with the both of them.

After a few moments Mark looked up at the vent. "We need to hurry, the others are waiting for us." Jack pulled away first, nodding. Felix glanced over at Mark, a type of understanding crossing over his face. "Lead the way."

Mark smiled. Then, the same sharp pain from earlier hit him again, this time in the back of his neck. He fell forward, dazed. The others crouched beside him, Jack even placing his hands against Mark's chest to check for injury. Felix yanked him back just before the pole could touch him. They looked up to see the doctor standing above them, holding the large metal rod that the guard had used against Mark earlier.

"Now," he said lowly, "I want you two to back away from Mr.Fischbach so that we may properly take care of him. Then, we will continue our experiment." Jack stayed his ground, mouth set in a firm line. Felix grabbed Jack's hand in his, glaring at the doctor. "Fuck you."

The doctor scowled. "Fine, we can afford to lose a mutant or two." He raised the rod again.

A loud sound reverbrated throughout the room, starting softly and crescendoing until the door into the testing room exploded, allowing Nate's voice to be heard loud and clear. Nate walked in, cutting himself off as he realized his work was done, and crossed his arms in satisfaction. Anthony then barged in, setting his sights on the doctor, who dropped the rod immediately.

Anthony body-checked him into the wall, knocking him out cold. Ryan bolted in first, Dan and a half-awake Minx trailing after him. After them came Ian, Pam, and Evan, all asking if the trio were okay. Jack said nothing, instead working on bringing Mark back from his dazed state. Felix quickly answered the questions of his friends.

After a few moments Mark sat up, now more aware. Jack smiled at him, trying to convey his gratitude with just his facial expression. Mark seemed to understand and smiled back.

Ryan leaned down towards them. "Are you all okay?" Mark nodded as he stood, Jack and Felix doing the same. "Yeah, we're okay." Mark narrowed his eyes at Nate. "We heard a gunshot from the vent, what happened?"

Nate smiled. "Michelle told me to shut up, so I did. It's a good thing I did too, otherwise I wouldn't have seen the dart that almost hit me in the throat."

Ryan nodded. "We were able to subdue most of the guards. Only a few of us were able to get in here though. Everyone else is still fighting outside." 

Felix chuckled, letting an arm wrap around Jack's shoulders. "Damn, you started a rebellion without us? I'm hurt." 

Anthony rolled his eyes, smirking. "Please, your slow-ass would've held us back."

Felix mock-gasped. Jack laughed, though the sound wasn't there.

Mark smiled at the both of them seeming more upbeat. All of them did. Why wouldn't they be? They were going to escape. They could finally get out of this hell and back to their families.

_Mark was going to see his family._

Dan rolled his eyes. "Well are we just going to stand here? We have to get the others out of recovery!" Ryan nodded. "He's right, we have to move." The small section of mutants turned to head to the door.

They froze at the sight of Prime Minister Churchlin standing in the doorway, dozens of guards lined up behind him.


	19. -Eighteen-

Churchlin tilted his head to the side, smiling as his eyes roamed over the mutants, stopping on Mark. "My, you've caused me a lot of trouble in the short time you've been here Mr.Fischbach. It would be so beneficial for me to just kill you right now."

Mark swallowed.

"But, you can still help us. Help your family. Help _humanity_. All you have to do is surrender now." He shifted his gaze to the other mutants. "It's not too late for any of you."

Ryan stepped forward, apparently proclaiming himself the spokesperson of the group. "No, we're not letting you hurt us anymore. Once our parents realize what you've been doing to us, you're going to pay."

Churchlin tsked. "You think any of your parents actually _care_ about you? All of you are _defects_. Most of them practically begged me to take you."

Some of the others shrunk a little at his words. Ian, however, squared his shoulders as he spat back. "Shut up! Even if our families didn't care, we're getting out of here!"

"You think it's that easy? My guards have already subdued all of your rebellious peers and escorted them back to their rooms."

Ryan's face paled. "Everyone?" Dan's eyes glazed over as he tensed.

Churchlin grinned. " _Everyone_. It wasn't quite as easy as I thought it would be. You were all hiding aspects of your abilities I hadn't even known existed. I might have to perform more extensive tests."

Felix held Jack closer, eyes burning with fury. "We're done with those stupid tests! We're going to get out of here and tell everyone what you're doing. There's nothing you can do about it!" Though his voice held confidence, his face showed doubt.

Churchlin cocked his head to the side. "Even if you were to somehow make it past me with your rag-tag group of misfits, you are miles underground with no access to the elevators." He chuckled. "And even if you were to somehow make it past all of that, you still have to make it in the real world. You're better off in here."

Mark clenched his hands into fists. "Shut up."

Churchlin tensed. "Excuse me?"

"I said shut up." Mark glared hard at Churchlin. "We can do far more than what you think. We're stronger than what we seem. If you think we're going to just let you win, you're wrong."

Churchlin smiled, though his eyes held something sinister. "It's very idiotic for you to challenge your superiors, Fischbach." He looked back to the guards. "Detain them." They began to move forward.

As soon as they began to move, Minx's head shot up, eyes wide. The guards all froze in place.

The others stared in awe as she pushed herself away from Dan and stood straight, eyes still focused on the guards. She cracked her neck.

One by one they fell to the ground, leaving only Churchlin standing. His face showed boredom, as if Minx hadn't just single-handedly taken out all of his guards.

Minx glared at him. Mark felt a dark aura surround her. She was going to do something awful to the Prime Minister. He anxiously waited to see her attack.

Seconds passed by. Minx narrowed her eyes, looking confused. She shook her head and continued, blood starting to drip from her nose.

 _Why wasn't it working?_ Mark frowned. She had just taken down dozens of guards with one movement of the neck, how come Churchlin was so difficult?

Suddenly Minx's eyes widened and she fell to the ground. Dan and Mark bolted to her side, while the others stared on in horror. Minx shakily pushed herself up, staring at the now-smiling-Prime Minister.

"...What are you?"

Churchlin shrugged, tilting his head to the side. "You tell me, _Minx_."

Minx clung onto Mark's arm, eyes wide with terror. Mark looked into Churchlin's eyes and swore he saw a flicker similar to that of Dan or Minx.

The all-knowing flicker that held a dark and strong power within.

Churchlin snapped his fingers, and all of the guards stood up. Some of the mutants cried out, others simply gawked at the sight. How had that happened? Only a mutant could do that!

"Now, I believe it's time we put these smart-mouthed children in their place." The guards began to move towards the group with a new type of aggression. Terrified, they backed up into the wall behind them.

The guards were mere feet away. After everything, they were still going to be stuck here. Mark blinked back tears, realizing he would never see his family again. He closed his eyes, not wanting to watch his new friends get hurt.

_CREAAAAAAAAAAAK_

_What?_ Mark opened his eyes. Where was that noise coming from?

His question was answered as water burst from the ceiling above, showering the guards. The water then morphed into a type of chain and slithered quickly around them, tying them together. The guards were helpless as the water chain yanked them to the ground, trapping them against the tile.

A few seconds later Jonathan jumped down from the vent, smirking. "It's a good thing you forgot about me, otherwise we would've been fucked."

Evan wordlessly ran over and hugged Jonathan. Chuckling, Jonathan hugged him back, accepting praise from the others on his rescue. Mark frowned, noticing that Churchlin was no longer in the room.

A siren blasted throughout the facility, startling the mutants. Ryan shouted above it. "They're going in lockdown! We have to move!"

"What about the others?!" Ian shouted back.

Ryan pointed down the hall, towards the elevator. "We need to make sure we have a way out first." Dan glared at him. "You said we would be able to get Phil-"

"We will! We just need to make sure we can actually leave."

Dan mumbled something but ultimately seemed to give in. Evan morphed into an owl, flying in the air. Mark flew up with him as well. "Let's go!"

They bolted out into the hallway. Jonathan held the guards down as he ran, not letting go until they were a good distance away.

Mark looked over his shoulder as he flew, tensing as he saw not only the guards from before chasing them, but new ones as well. He cursed to himself before calling down to the others. "There's more of them!"

Panting, Dan looked back, his eyes widening. Not being known for grace, he tripped, falling onto the floor. A guard quickly caught up with him, grabbing him by the arm.

"Dan!" Pam noticed first and stopped in her tracks. She raised a hand up, throwing the guard away from Dan. Dan looked up at her from the floor with wide eyes.

"Go!" Dan sprinted back to catch up with the others. Ian stopped as well, grabbing Pam's arm to help her catch with the rest of the group.

It only took a few moments for them to reach the doors that led out of the room and into the elevator. Jonathan cursed. "Fuck, does anyone have a keycard?" Mark floated down, pointing to Ryan. "Don't you have one?"

Ryan shook his head. "Mine only had access to the cafeteria and the recreation rooms. It can't access the main doors."

Felix ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck! How are we supposed to get out of here?!"

Pam put her hands up and scrunched her nose in concentration as she tried to open the doors with her telekinesis. They didn't budge.

Dan ran a hand through his hair. "We're going to fucking die."

As if to spite him, the doors beeped loudly before sliding open. The mutants watched in awe as they revealed two adults standing beside a desk on the other side: Dr.Morrison and Ms.Blackery.

"Get in!" Dr.Morrison frantically waved his hands, pointing to the open elevator. Felix wasted no time as he swept Jack into his arms and sprinted inside. Evan and Jonathan came after them, Mark, Nate, Dan and Minx following. As soon as Ryan and Anthony entered they heard a cry and turned.

Just short of the door was Pam, pinned to the ground by a guard with a taser to her neck. Ian tackled the guy to the floor, punching him in blind fury. The guards then entered the room. Some grabbed Dr.Morrison as others began to head towards Ms.Blackery and the elevator. Without so much as a second thought, Ms.Blackery smashed her fist against a button on the desk and the elevator doors closed.

Before anyone could react, the elevator rocketed downwards.

Evan morphed back into his regular form. Him and Jonathan both grabbed onto each other for support, as did Felix and Jack. Anthony grabbed onto the walls, his strength denting them. The rest of them tried to find balance as the elevator that should've been taking them up to freedom was dropping them down into uncertainty.

After what seemed like the longest drop ever, the elevator stopped. It dinged as its doors opened. There was a short hall with no rooms to the sides, only one straight across from the elevator. Ryan exited first, narrowing his eyes in confusion. "What? I've never heard of this.." Minx frowned as well, leaning on Dan for support. "What the hell.."

The group trekked cautiously down the quiet hallway. No one dared to utter a word. Once they were at the door Ryan opened it. The others braced themselves for the worst...

...only to find a teenage boy around their age standing at a whiteboard, working on equations of some-sort.

Mark tilted his head to the side. _What?_ Felix, being himself, voiced what everyone was thinking. "Hey! Who are you?!"

The boy turned around, smiling. "Oh hey, didn't think I'd get visitors anytime soon." Beaming, he looked to Minx and Ryan. "Minx? Ryan?? You're both okay!"

Minx gasped, lifting her hands to her face. "No.." Ryan shared the same look of confusion. "You died!"

The boy frowned. "No, pretty sure I'm alive."

Minx scrunched her face in anger. "I saw you! You died mere _inches_ from me!!!"

Mark furrowed his brow. "Wait, you two know him?"

The boy chuckled. "Sorry, this is probably really confusing. Let me just introduce myself. My name is Matthew. Matthew Patrick."


	20. -Nineteen-

Matthew smiled as he leaned against the whiteboard, staring at Minx and Ryan. “So, looks like you two owe me an explanation.”

Minx scoffed. “You're the one that _died_. You owe us an explanation!”

Matthew chuckled. “You haven't changed a bit.” Wordlessly, Minx ran over and hugged Matthew, burying her face into his shoulder. At first he just stood there, shock evident in his face. Slowly, he hugged her back. Ryan walked over and joined them.

The rest of the group looked on in awkward silence. It was obvious that they all were close, yet there was still the fact of the matter that they were literally running for their lives. They needed to move soon.

After a few moments Dan groaned. “We need to get fucking moving so could somebody just clarify what the hell is going on?”

Matthew sighed, breaking from the hug. “Fine, I'll go first. Several years ago, before this facility was taken over by the government, it was run by a secretive group of scientists looking for a cure to the Plague. Minx, Ryan, Me, and a couple others were chosen as test subjects so they could replicate a cure from our blood. They were really close..” His eyes darkened, and his grin turned into a frown.

“..and then Reiden ruined everything.”

Minx narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Matthew crossed his arms. “He destroyed the facility from the inside out. All of those scientists and their work, gone. He killed people! After all of that talk about being reformed and his father being the one behind it all, he betrayed us!”

Ryan shook his head. “That's not what happened! The government sent troops in to take over the facility. They were the ones who killed the scientists and destroyed the place. Reiden managed to help the others escape.”

Matthew narrowed his eyes at them. “How come you're both still here?”

Minx glared at Ryan. “Ryan stopped us from going with Reiden because he wouldn't believe me when I said that you had died.” Ryan nudged her slightly. “Which I was right in doing, considering the fact he's alive and standing in front of us. You didn't have anything to be upset about, did you?”

 _So that's why she was so spiteful towards him_. Mark thought. Still, it didn't explain why she thought Matthew had died.

Minx glared again at Matthew. “You were at the back of the group. When I turned to see if you were keeping up I saw you on the floor clutching a bleeding leg, one of the guards hovering over you. I called out to you and he shot you!” She started to cry, her shoulders shaking. “He shot you straight through the skull!”

She trembled as she started to lean forward. A pair of arms wrapped around her. She turned to see Jack's face. They stared at each other for a split second before she hugged him back. Ryan looked back to Matthew.

“What do you remember?”

Staring at Minx, Matthew continued. “I-I remember being with you when the alarms started. Then the audio started to glitch along with the lights system. Then this horrible screech blared through the speakers. All of the scientists started to scream. Blood started leaking from their eyes and mouths. The same happened to the rest of you. Then, Reiden walked in. He silenced everyone, one by one, until he stood in front of me.” Matthew leaned against the whiteboard as he clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white. “I blacked out and woke up in a white room. This guy in a suit told me about how Reiden had freaked out and destroyed the facility, killing everyone. I was the only survivor other than Reiden. They took him away to be locked up forever, and they left me down here to protect me in case he ever escaped.”

Ryan contemplated Matthew's words for a moment before replying. “Well, we're alive. You're smart enough to know that if they lied about our deaths, they lied to you about Reiden being the one to destroy the facility.”

Matthew opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking down at the floor. After a few moments he looked back up. “I swear that's how I remember it. I have a photographic memory, there's no way I'm wrong.”

Mark's eyes widened as he realized something. “The Prime Minister wasn't affected by Minx's powers, and he was able to command the guards to rise up like nothing had happened to them. Maybe he did something to Matthew's memory?”

Ryan looked to Matthew. “Matt, do you mind if I try to see if there's anything suppressed in there? I know you don't want people poking around in your memories..”

Matt shook his head. “No, I trust you both. Besides, if what you're saying is true, we need to get out of here now.” 

Dan, finally deciding to speak, pointed out the door and towards the elevator. “That's our only way out. They must've blockaded the top floor by now. How are we supposed to escape?” Matt grinned.

“Trust me, there's more than one way out of here.” He walked towards the corner of the room, bending down towards a small cupboard. He swung it open and stepped to the side, showing a small tunnel.

Everyone except for Ryan and Minx looked on skeptically. They were expected to go in a small space and crawl to who knows where?

Matt scanned the other's expressions. “I swear, this leads out. And even if you don't believe me, there's nowhere else to go.”

On cue the lights in the room started to flash red. The same alarm that was playing before started again.

Jonathan shook his head, tugging Evan to the small entrance. “Fuck this, we're going.” He entered, Evan close behind him.

After a few more moments of the dreadful siren, Anthony and Nate crawled into the entrance as well. One by one the others followed until only Ryan, Matt, Mark and Dan remained. Dan looked back at the door they had came from, frowning.

Ryan sighed. “Dan we have to go.”

Dan stayed put.

Ryan looked over to Matt. “Go ahead, we'll just be a second.” Matt gave him a confused look, but crawled after the others.

Ryan pointed at Mark. “You too.” Mark shook his head. “I want to make sure you both get in. You don't have to be so self-sacrificing. You're worth something too.”

“Shut the fuck up Mark.” Dan hissed.

Ryan glared at him. “What the hell is your problem?” 

“My problem?” Dan let out a dry laugh. “You said we'd be able to go back for Phil. I'm not leaving without him.”

“I know what I said-”

“So then why are we escaping without him? Without the fucking others?” Dan was practically fuming. His eyes seemed darker, and Mark knew they didn't have time for this. They had to go. He tried to intervene. “Dan, we have to go.”

Dan turned to Mark. “Don't act like you care. You haven't even been here a full week. None of these people matter to you, you just want to get back to your own family you selfish prick!”

Mark backed up a bit. “I-I didn't.. that's not what I-”

Dan grinned. “Oh, you're just a perfect angel aren't you? No matter what you'll get your way in the end. No one else's life matters does it?”

A burning sensation formed in Mark's chest, making it hard to breathe. His wings curled around his body as his eyes darted frantically around the room. Wait- was it getting smaller? 

Dan seemed even taller now, looming over Mark with a sinister grin. “We could've saved the others if you had been able to save Felix and Jack on your own _Mark_.” His voice echoed all around the room. Darkness tinged Mark's vision.

And then he was back, all distortion gone. Dan was no longer smiling. His face was back to its original monotone state, but something in his eyes seemed faded. Wordlessly, he crawled into the vent.

Ryan looked to Mark, his face solemn. The extent of his powers still amazed Mark. “Are you okay?” Mark nodded.

“Good. Just crawl straight through. It's dark, and you'll want to slow down, but we need to hurry.”

Mark kneeled at the entrance, turning back once more.

“You knew we weren't going to be able to save everyone, didn't you.”

Ryan said nothing, answering Mark's question. Mark turned back to the passageway and crawled through.


	21. -Twenty-

It was dark.

 _Really_ dark.

Mark couldn't even see his own hands anymore. There wasn't even a visible source of light in front of him, just how long did this passage stretch for? However he didn't stop to ponder what awaited him at the end. The only thing he was concerned about was putting as much distance between the facility and himself as possible.

After nearly two minutes he began to feel discouraged. They literally just met Matt, and they were trusting him? Then again, Minx and Ryan trusted him, and Mark trusted them. Still, this seemed to be a long time crawling through a narrow passageway that his wings kept rubbing up against. A few times they had even gotten scraped, leaving a stinging sensation.

Another thing that had been worrying Mark was the fact that he couldn't hear the others. Not even Ryan, who should've been right behind him. Then again, it wasn't a metal vent like earlier, just some weird crawl space thing that seemed to never end. He shouldn't really be hearing anything.

The world seemed to want to contradict Mark, because at that moment he started to hear a sound. It was very faint, and seemed to be getting closer the more he crawled forward. Confused, Mark began to crawl faster. It sounded like a mechanical whirring, could it be a fan or some type of propeller? A vehicle to get them out of here?

Mark was broken out of his thoughts as he felt his hand go straight down, completely not hitting the floor. Or anything. His brain wasn't able to register in time what was going on so he leaned forward and did the same thing with his other hand, falling straight down into nothingness.

The mechanical whirring sound got louder, drowning out Mark's screams as he fell forward. He tried to use his wings to fly, but they ended up hitting walls, unable to fully stretch out. Instead they burned as they scraped along them. Mark yanked them back immediately and continued to fall.

After a few seconds he landed in something with a loud splash. He swam up to the surface moments later, panic setting in. He hated water. He sucked at swimming, and literally anything could be swimming with him. The fact he couldn't see only worsened his anxiety.

Mark treaded for a moment as he looked back and forth. There still wasn't any light. What the hell was he supposed to do?! He breathed in, trying to calm himself down. It only made it worse as the odor of something coppery and foul assaulted his nostrils. Mark tried to flap his wings and fly up. He didn't want to be in that suspicious water any longer.

He only went up an inch before smacking his head against something. Mark fell back into the water, swimming up to the surface a few seconds later. He placed his hand up, feeling a ceiling that was only two inches above his head.

 _What the- where did he even fall from?_ Mark swam around with one hand on the ceiling, using his wings to keep him from dipping his head back in the water.

Nothing. There was only a ceiling. He couldn't find the opening again, and his legs were starting to get tired. If he didn't find a way out soon, he was going to drown.

Mark suddenly felt a tug on the tip of his wing. He cried out in fear, instinctively trying to fly up again. Whatever was in the water yanked him under completely.

Mark struggled against whatever was pulling him down, trying desperately to swim back up. He kept his mouth shut, causing his lungs to burn for air. Eventually it became too much and Mark gasped for air, inhaling water. The taste of blood and something else filled Mark's mouth, causing him to gag. He closed his mouth as his body convulsed, struggling from both the lack of air and the putrid tastes.

It was then that the water-creature stopped tugging Mark downward, leaving him suspended in the water. Mark tried to swim up, but he barely had the energy to kick his legs. It was no use. He reached one hand up as he coughed into the water, a futile final attempt at saving himself.

Something grabbed his hand, pulling him up to the surface. It didn't stop until his entire body was out of the water, placing him on a cool metal floor. Mark's eyes stayed closed.

There were voices as a hand placed itself on Mark's chest. All the water in his lungs went back up his throat and out of his mouth. He jolted upright, coughing onto the floor beside him.

When he was done, Mark looked up, finally having enough light to see his surroundings. They seemed to be in a sewage pipe, which explained the disgusting taste and smell. Jonathan was kneeling above him, a look of concern etched into his face. Jack, Felix, Evan and Minx were standing behind him, all sharing the same look of worry. All of them were covered in sewage.

Mark slowly sat up. “W-why did you pull me under?” Jonathan narrowed his eyes. “When I used the water to find you you were already submerged.”

Mark's eyes widened. Just as he was about to question what the heck was in there with them, he heard shouting. He turned his head, seeing the others standing behind them along the edge of the sewage water, pulling Ryan up and out. Matt turned and jogged down the drainage pipe, pointing at some light in the distance.

An opening.

The others all bolted after him, sprinting towards the exit.

Towards freedom.

Mark stretched out his wings to their full-length. Then he flapped them until he left the ground. He flew past the others, nearly catching up with Felix, who was sprinting at the front with Jack on his back.

Finally they made it out into the night sky, the moon shining bright above them. Mark flew up as the others leapt out of the drainage pipe and into some huge mud puddles. He looked back. The pipe was sticking out of a hill, and the facility was nearly a mile behind it. Mark then looked in front of him.

A small expanse of forest, and then the city. Mark smiled.

And then he felt a sharp pain go through his left wing. He shrieked as he rocketed down into the mud, landing hard on his side.

“Mark!” Minx shrieked. Jack pushed away from Felix and bolted over to Mark's side. There was blood staining his feathers. He had been shot.

Jonathan pushed an arm upward, lifting the muddy water up into the air to form a shield as more bullets went flying their way. Matt pointed to the woods. “We have to go!”

Jack placed his hands over Mark's wing, healing him. The others ran into the woods, leaving Jonathan, Felix, Jack and Mark. Jonathan squinted his eyes. “I can feel their footsteps getting closer.”

Jack lifted his hands. The wound was healed. Felix yanked Mark up. “Let's go!” Jonathan made a pushing motion with his hands, showering the guards with the water. Felix grabbed Jack and sprinted into the woods. Mark latched onto Jonathan's shoulder and flew up, staying just under the trees so as to be out of sight. They disappeared into the woods, shouts and gunshots behind them.

Minx's voice filled Mark's ears. _**Keep going. Don't stop until I tell you to.**_

So Mark flew as fast as his wings could take him, carrying both himself and Jonathan away from the horrors of the facility. Away from the Prime Minister.

Away from their remaining friends.


	22. -Epilogue-

It hurt to breathe.

Mark's wings burned from the effort of carrying someone and himself for such a long distance. The gunshots and shouting had faded long ago, but Mark didn't dare to stop. Not until Minx gave the okay.

Jonathan tugged on Mark's shoulder. He was being held around the waist by Mark, but he could feel himself slipping. "I see them down there."

Mark continued to fly as if in an autopilot mode. He would've passed right over them had Minx not finally told him to stop. **_Down here._** Mark flew down, dropped Jonathan from a foot above the ground, then landed hard on his knees.

"Ow!" Jonathan looked like he was about to say something else, but he stopped after seeing how tired Mark was. Minx ran over to Mark and pulled him up. "You okay?"

Mark nodded, panting heavily. Ryan looked off into the forest. "Okay, so there should be a police station in the heart of the city. If we head there-"

Felix shook his head. "We are literally on the bad side of the fucking Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Do you think the police are going to help us?"

Ryan bit his cheek as he thought. "Our parents. We'll find out where they're held."

Dan grit his teeth. Looks like Ryan had forgotten about controlling him. "We can't leave everyone behind. That asshole and his attack dogs will kill them."

Ryan turned to Dan. "What do you suggest we do? He was somehow able to resist Minx's powers, _and_ rehabilitate an entire room full of incapacitated soldiers. How are we supposed to take him down?"

Dan looked away, staring intensely at the ground.

Ryan sighed. "Exactly. No one can."

"Actually, someone can." Matt spoke up, drawing the attention of everyone. "Reiden was able to fend them off, and that was as a _child_. Now, he could do it again easily."

Minx frowned. "But we don't know where he is." Matt shook his head. " _You_ don't. _I_ do. I've seen their maps. He's held in a remote facility in Italy. All we have to do is go there and find him."

Everyone gave each other looks of approval. This was their chance to save the others and stop Churchlin. Minx looked at Matt. "We'll go, but please use the name he wanted us to use. He hated being associated with his dad."

Matt nodded, smiling. "Then it's settled. We're going to find Cry."


	23. Sequel

The End!

Just kidding.

I have a sequel up called _The Fugitives_. It's in my collection _The Experiments_. Check it out!


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